World's oldest animal killed by scientists

[cronus]

World's oldest animal killed by scientists

Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Scientists at Bangor University in North Wales have inadvertently killed Ming the Mollusc, which it turns out was the world's oldest living animal.
The ocean quahog -- a type of deep sea clam -- was found in Iceland in 2006 and found to be 405 years old. However while taking a closer look at it, researchers found that it may be a hundred years older, pegging it's age at 507 years old. But this process, opening its shell to put it under scrutiny, led to the death of the mollusc.

“We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hasty publishing our findings back then. But we are absolutely certain that we’ve got the right age now,” said Dr. Paul Butler, an ocean scientist at the university.

This means that the mollusc was born in 1499 -- a time when the Ming dynasty was flourishing, seven years after Columbus reached America and a decade before Henry VIII became King of England.

The quahog's shell grows every year, producing visible rings for each growth spurt, much like a tree. These can be found near the hinge of the clam and on the outer shell. It is generally agreed that the hinge is the best place to estimate the age of a mollusc, as it is shielded from external forces.

Based on the rings on the quahog's hinge researchers estimated it's age to be 405 years but on taking a look at the outer shell they revised their calculations, dating it at 507 years old.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Blog/20 ... z2knCVYrZd

[rainbow]

They don't say what it tastes like.

[JimC]

They don't say what it tastes like.

I recommend gentle frying with garlic and olive oil, then de-glazing with a splash of riesling, with the final addition of finely chopped parsley...

[cronus]

"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."
- Gandalf to Saruman

[JimC]

"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."
- Gandalf to Saruman

Most modern science is the result of many, many things being broken, again and again and again...

Dissection in the widest sense is vital, no matter how many rail against the reductionist bogeyman...

[cronus]

"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."
- Gandalf to Saruman

Most modern science is the result of many, many things being broken, again and again and again...

Dissection in the widest sense is vital, no matter how many rail against the reductionist bogeyman...

That's OK for mass production but this was a one of a kind....unless there's another somewhere out there?

[Faithfree]

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle strikes again.
Loosely translated for the common person: "You can't observe anything without fucking it up to some degree."

[klr]

They don't say what it tastes like.

Richard Fortey should have been on the case. In the series Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures, he regaled us with explanations of how some lines of animals had somehow survived all manner of catastrophe over millions of years.

Then he ate most of them. They tasted good.

[mistermack]

This is a disaster for people who deep sea dive off Iceland. They must be upset. Both of them.

Seems odd that they can escape being eaten by Walruses or Whales for all that time. Just lucky I suppose.

[Tyrannical]

You'd think with something between an x-ray and an airport luggage scanner they could have counted the rings without opening it.