Oops! Scientists Killed Oldest Known Living Creature
Scientists hoping to gain new insights into the agingprocess turned their attention to the long-lived clamspecies Arctica islandica in 2006, dredging the coastal waters off of Iceland for specimens. Their efforts resulted in the discovery of Ming the clam, which, as they later found out, was the oldest living animal ever found. Unfortunately, in order to make this determination, the researchers had to open its shell, killing it. Once they counted the shell’s growth rings, they concluded that Ming had been between 405 and 410 years old. However, a new, more detailed analysis adds another century to the earlier estimate, placing the bivalve’s age at 507. More… Discuss
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