List of long-living organisms
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This is a list of long-living organisms.
Contents |
[edit] Plants
[edit] Unitary (non-clonal) plants
- A Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) known as "Methuselah" is, at 4,838 years old, the oldest known living plant. Another bristlecone pine called "Prometheus" was estimated at 4,844 years old when it was felled in 1964.[1]
- A Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa) specimen, the Sri Maha Bodhi, is 2293 years old, making it the oldest known flowering plant.
- A Cariniana legalis known as Patriarca da Floresta, the oldest tree in Brazil, lives in the Parque Estadual de Vassununga with an estimated age of circa 3000 years.
[edit] Genets and Clonal colonies
Note that no individual part of a clonal colony lives for more than a very small fraction of the times reported for the whole clone in itself. The first two listed here are probably fully connected via their root systems, while the rest are not actually interconnected, but are genetically identical clones which populated an area through vegetative reproduction.
- A huge strand of the sea grass Posidonia oceanica in the Mediterranean Sea could be up to 100,000 years of age.
- Pando (tree), this genet has been estimated to be 80,000 years old[2], although some estimates place it as being as old as one million years[3].
- King's Lomatia: The sole surviving clonal colony of this species is estimated to be at least 43,600 years old.[4]
- Eucalyptus recurva: clones are claimed to be 13,000 years old.[5]
- Creosote bush: a ring of bushes in the Mojave desert are estimated at 11,700 years old.[6]
[edit] Animals
- Mollusk: The Icelandic Cyprine Arctica islandica, is the oldest reported animal ever, with a maximum recorded lifespan of 374 years.[7]
- Reptile:
- a Galápagos tortoise named Harriet: died in 2006 at an unconfirmed age of 175 years old.[8]
- Tu'i Malila: died at an age of 188 or 192 years old.[9]
- Adwaita: died at an unconfirmed age of 256 years old.[10]
- Mammal, Bowhead Whale: unconfirmed sources estimate some to be 245 years old.[11]
- Human, Jeanne Calment: 122 years old at time of death.
- Fish, Chilean sea bass: reports claim[citation needed] these fish live to be 100+ years old.
- Bird, A 106 year old female Blue-and-yellow Macaw named Charlie, born in 1899. It was incorrectly claimed that she formerly belonged to Winston Churchill.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Gymnosperm Database (4 February 2006). How Old Is That Tree?. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
- ^ Quaking Aspen by the Bryce Canyon National Park Service
- ^ Genetic Variation and the Natural History of Quaking Aspen, Jeffry B. Mitton; Michael C. Grant, BioScience, Vol. 46, No. 1. (Jan., 1996), pp. 25-31.
- ^ Discovery Channel (21 October 1996). Tasmanian bush could be oldest living organism. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
- ^ Oldest Living Organism. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
- ^ Plant Hall of Fame.
- ^ Schöne et al. (2005). "Climate records from a bivalved Methuselah". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (228): 130-148.
- ^ "Harriet the Tortoise dies at 175", BBC News, 23 June 2006.
- ^ Seed: Week In Science: 6/23 - 6/29
- ^ "'Clive of India's' tortoise dies" BBC News
- ^ Alaska Science Forum (15 February 2001). Bowhead Whales May Be the World's Oldest Mammals. Retrieved on 2006-07-25.
