Biologists have discovered the longest living creature on earth. The longest living organisms on earth The longest living organism on earth
MOSCOW, July 18— RIA Novosti. The longest-living creatures on Earth are deep-sea sessile worms from the bottom of the Caribbean Sea, some of which have lived for more than 300 years, according to a paper published in the journal Science of Nature.
"Many individuals of Escarpia laminata live to be 250 years old and cross a boundary that no other living species has ever crossed. Given the uncertainty in age measurements for the longest individuals of this species, it is possible that some of them live even longer," says Alanna Durkin from Temple University in Philadelphia (USA).
Naked mole rats will be the key to human immortality, says biologistAcademician Vladimir Skulachev told RIA Novosti why Moscow University created Russia’s first colony of Cape naked mole rats, unusually long-lived rodents, and why aging and death are a “useless” evolutionary program for us that can and should be turned off.Earth's long-livers are traditionally considered to be large and leisurely inhabitants of the seas and land - bowhead whales, some individuals of which have lived for more than 200 years, and Galapagos tortoises, living in some cases up to their 250th anniversary. In addition, a single individual of the Arctic bivalve Arctica islandica is known, whose age, according to current estimates, exceeds 500 years.
Scientists have been studying these animals for quite some time, trying to understand what exactly made them live so long, and whether they suffer from cancer and other diseases. The secrets of their biology, it is hoped, can be used to extend human life.
Durkin and her colleagues discovered an even longer-lived species of marine animals by studying the flora and fauna of the bottom of the deep-sea Caribbean Sea. This species is better suited for experimentation and study than rare turtles and giant cetaceans.
Scientists' attention was drawn to colonies of sessile worms of the species Escarpia laminata - fairly large invertebrates that attach to the seabed and live in one place all their lives. These worms live near hydrothermal vents and "black smokers" on the sea floor and feed on plankton and the remains of other organisms that they catch from the water.
Scientists: Vitamin D may be a potential cure for old ageExperiments with nematode worms showed that vitamin D activates genes associated with protection against aging and prevents the development of protein disorders, including the development of Alzheimer's disease, which extended their life by a third.The unusually large length of the tubes of these worms, reaching 50-60 centimeters in some cases, forced scientists to check how quickly the “armor” of these invertebrates grows. After observing the worms for a year, biologists were surprised to discover that the tubes of Escarpia laminata grow very slowly, about half a millimeter per year, and the age of the longest individuals exceeds 300 years.
Part of the secret to their longevity is that these worms hardly die—the mortality rate in their colonies does not exceed 0.6% even for the oldest individuals, which is about 15 times lower than the values predicted by theory. Scientists do not yet know why this happens, but they assume that this is due to the low temperature of the waters in which Escarpia laminata and other deep-sea worms live.
News about the Hunt
02/08/2012 | Discoveries of biologists: the longest living organism, the largest shrimp...
A plant, which according to preliminary estimates is from 80 to 200 thousand years old, was discovered in the Mediterranean Sea by scientists from Australia. The longest living organism on the planet reproduces itself by cloning.
The record holder was the common sea grass of the species Posidonia oceanica. Her DNA was studied by Carlos Duarte from the University of Western Australia. The scientist collected samples of seagrass genetic material from 40 different places while traveling with an expedition from Cyprus to Spain.
Near the island of Formentera, a biologist discovered a giant “meadow” of sea grass, which stretched for 15 kilometers, but at the same time was the same plant, a single organism. The DNA in all samples turned out to be identical.
The fact is that this sea grass, like many others, reproduces by cloning (which is why the genetic material turned out to be similar). However, it could have taken P. oceanica from 80 to 200 thousand years to occupy such a vast territory. It turns out that Carlos and his colleagues have discovered the longest-living organism on the planet!
Picture a shows individual ramets (clones of the predecessor organism, ortheta), picture b shows part of a 15-kilometer underwater meadow of Posidonia oceanica (photo by M. San Felix).
Previously, this was considered to be a shrub of the species Lomatia tasmanica, which also reproduces by cloning. Paleontologists discovered it in Tasmania in the 30s of the last century. Later, fossilized leaves were found near one of the plants, the age of which was 43,600 years. Scientists believe that the modern shrub is a clone of one that once upon a time lost these same leaves.
Despite its amazing endurance, the record-breaking seagrass is facing extinction, Australian researchers say. The Mediterranean Sea is warming three times faster than the world average, causing P. oceanica meadows to decline by about 5% each year.
The world's largest shrimp caught in New Zealand
Scientists from New Zealand caught a giant shrimp. She accidentally got caught in the net when oceanologists were exploring one of the underwater gorges at a depth of 7 thousand meters. The length of the “amphipod,” as this species of crustacean is called, is 34 centimeters.
Their “shallow-water” relatives are usually 10 times smaller - no more than 3 centimeters. Oceanologists are meeting such a giant for the first time. According to one version, this size is associated with the depth at which the shrimp live. They grew to withstand enormous water pressure. The taste qualities of the super-giant shrimp have not yet been reported.
British scientists have proven that vegetables can talk to each other
Biologists from the University of Exeter in the UK managed to prove that plants, in particular vegetables, can communicate with each other. Researchers recorded on film how one representative of the flora warned another about the impending danger, reports the British television and radio company BBC.
Do you like to walk in the garden or in the park, because you are sure that there is real, unshakable silence there? Scientists from the University of Exeter say this is not so. You just don't hear how plants communicate with each other. And they constantly talk to each other, especially when danger is approaching. Biologists have known about plant communication with each other for a long time, but only now have they been able to obtain visual scientific confirmation of this.
To do this, scientists slightly modified cabbage DNA, increasing the content of a protein inside the plant called luciferase, the presence of which allows fireflies to glow in the dark. This was done so that the cameras could record the process of communication between the vegetables, writes the Daily Mail. Biologists cut a cabbage leaf, after which the plant released a special gas, methyl jasmonate. This is the “voice of vegetables,” scientists say. With the help of this substance, plants warn each other about impending danger.
Hearing this kind of SOS signal, vegetables growing nearby increase the content of toxic substances in their leaves and thus repel various pests that can gnaw on the leaves. First of all, insects. According to employees at the University of Exeter, vegetables, flowers, and even trees communicate with each other in a similar way. Despite the phenomenal discovery, biologists say they are at the very beginning of studying how plants communicate.
Let us add that plants are also able to distinguish “relatives” from “strangers”, which is manifested in the absence of wars between roots, and remember the stress of previous generations; information about bad events is stored in genes.
Why does the golden mole need rainbow fur?
The only owner of rainbow fur among mammals received it as a by-product and useless product of some other evolutionary transformations.
golden mole
The iridescent, iridescent color occurs due to the differential refraction of light rays, which is due to the structural features and pigment composition of the surface. It is believed that iridescence in the animal world arose about 50 million years ago. Since then, it has gained “tremendous popularity” among insects, birds, fish and reptiles: to see a feather shimmering in the light, just look at a commonplace pigeon. But not all animals have this coloration, and mammals were among those deprived. If you do not take into account the iridescent iridescence of the eyes of nocturnal predators, not a single animal has anything like that.
However, as American researchers from the University of Akron write in the journal Biology Letters, there is one exception. True, it is very paradoxical, because rainbow fur was found on a blind golden mole. The dense silky fur of these animals in yellow and red shades has a characteristic metallic sheen. And only now zoologists have been honored to find out why golden moles’ fur shines and shimmers in the light.
To study the structure of golden mole hair, different types of electron microscopy were used, but ultimately the researchers stated: yes, the hair of these animals does indeed luminesce. Each hair is strongly flattened and covered with cuticle scales, which give the surface the properties necessary for special refraction and reflection of light rays. The flat hairs are covered with layers of dark and light material, providing an iridescent fur, and variations in color depend on the thickness and number of these layers. Iridescence occurs in the range between green and blue.
But why does the blind golden mole (and he, by the way, is not related to ordinary moles) need such luxurious wool?
His ancestors were sighted, but since then millions of years of evolution have passed, during which the golden mole led a rather specific way of life. That is, in order for him to have iridescent fur, some other selection factors must have been at work. But which ones? This coloration clearly does not contribute to greater stealth; the golden mole also has nothing to scare away predators. Scientists are inclined to think that the only rainbow fur among mammals went to the mole, as they say, simply as a by-product.
The wool should help the animal move underground, and some features of its structure, which arose to solve this problem, could at the same time create an iridescent iridescence. In the same way, the pearlescent coloration of bivalves arose as a side effect when evolution took the path of strengthening the shell. Most likely, something similar could happen to the golden mole: all the beauty of its fur turned out to be a non-functional by-product of some more practical evolutionary decisions.
When choosing a site for a nest, owls listen to the opinions of neighbors
A place for a scops owl's nest is found based on local rumors: if the house owls living nearby are often worried about danger, the scops owl will prefer a more prosperous area for the nest.
Scops Owls
For us, eavesdropping on other people's conversations is considered indecent, and some owls, for example, choose a nesting site based on overheard neighbors' conversations. Animals in nature respond not only to their own alarm calls, but also to the call signs of other species: for example, black-tailed deer, living side by side with marmots, listen carefully to the rodents' conversations. Both are threatened by the same predators, so the alarming whistling of marmots also serves as a signal for deer to flee.
But this is an example, so to speak, of direct behavior: someone alone gave a signal about the approach of a predator, and the entire local fauna was alarmed. Scientists from the National Council for Scientific Research (Spain) have shown that owls, based on other people's alarm signals, can make far-reaching conclusions about where it is more convenient to nest. Two species of small owls, the little owl and the scops owl, live in the same area in south-eastern Spain. The owl stays here all year round, and is therefore more “informed” about the pros and cons of the habitat. The researchers decided to use the owl's alarm call to test whether it influenced the behavior of less experienced scops owls, who only "visit" here each year.
Little owl
Zoologists placed nesting boxes in various areas where they played recordings of owl calls. Thus, in some places, owl alarm calls were often heard, in others, exclusively peaceful communication of owls with each other; finally, in third areas the owls remained completely silent. At the same time, what is important, the voices of owls from another territory were reproduced in the recording, so that the owls would not react to the call signs of their old acquaintances.
As the experiment progressed, it became clear that new owls arriving here nest in both less dangerous and more dangerous areas. The only difference was in the clutch size: in the “disturbed” territory, females laid fewer eggs. As for Scops Owls, they preferred to minimize the risk and did not nest at all in the boxes placed in the experimental areas. That is, owls could plan their future and that of their offspring, focusing on the “criminogenic situation” around them. And they learned about the state of affairs thanks to owls of a different species.
Scientists are preparing to publish the results of their observations in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
For owls, as the authors of the study believe, the social environment is more important: in order to communicate with fellow tribesmen, they are ready to take some risks and build a nest in a risky area. But they also cannot completely ignore the danger, so they lay fewer eggs in “alarming” areas. The fewer chicks, the less often the parents go out to get food for them and the less they attract predators to the nest. In addition, a small clutch allows you to save your own resources in case the nest is destroyed and you have to build a new one.
Returning to Scops Owls, we note that this is a very clear illustration of how species use each other for completely peaceful purposes, and not just as food. This complicates and expands our understanding of interspecific communities. However, it remains unclear exactly how owls analyze such factors. In the future, zoologists are going to concentrate specifically on the mechanisms for processing information and correcting the behavior of owls in accordance with the information they receive.
New species of horned snake found in Tanzania
Horned snakes are simply terrifying. It feels like they just stepped out of a horror movie. Another such monster, previously unknown to scientists, was discovered in Tanzania.
Science already knows several types of horned snakes. They live in the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East, and are found in Mauritania, western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Mali, Tunisia, Niger, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
However, just recently, scientists were able to discover a previously unknown colored horned snake in Tanzania. The new species was discovered by a team of researchers during their scientific expedition and named Matilda (Atheris matildae). Unfortunately, according to scientists, this snake lives in deplorable conditions in impoverished Tanzania and may be in danger of extinction in the near future. The length of the found snake is 60 cm. Typically, the length of horned snakes can reach 80 cm.
It is interesting that scientists are keeping the exact location where they discovered the Tanzanian snake completely secret, specifying only that this population lives on an insignificant piece of land of 100 km2. It is precisely because of the risk of extinction of these Tanzanian snakes that biologists do not give out the exact location of their habitat. Many new species of various reptiles and amphibians, after their discovery was reported, were caught by poachers, who make good money from endangered species by selling them to private collections or zoos.
“The global trade in endangered species of animals and reptiles is illegal, but has been actively developing in recent years. Poachers illegally catch and sell valuable species of reptiles and amphibians, thereby exposing them to the risk of complete extinction from the face of the Earth, because many of them do not survive in captivity” - scientists say.
Boa constrictors discovered the ability to measure the pulse of victims
Biologists have discovered that boa constrictors squeeze their own prey until its heart stops. The scientists' article appeared in the journal Biology Letters (at the time of writing, a link to the article had not yet been published), and a summary of it appeared in ScienceNOW.
As part of the work, scientists led by Scott Boback placed plastic bags of water, equipped with a system that made them pulse, next to the hearts of dead rats. Their carcasses were given to common boa constrictors (Boa constrictor), which began to strangle them.
The suffocation usually stopped soon after the pulsation of the sac, which resembled a heartbeat, stopped. It was previously known that boa constrictors can focus on the heat emanating from the victim’s body - because of this, dead rats were heated in the experiment to the temperature of living ones, that is, 38 degrees Celsius.
According to the researchers, sensitivity to the heartbeat of the prey developed in boa constrictors in connection with hunting cold-blooded animals. The fact is that the process of squeezing itself requires enormous energy expenditure from snakes - on average seven times more than they spend during rest - so boa constrictors need an effective system for determining whether the victim is alive or not.
An adult boa constrictor can reach a length of 2-3 meters. Snakes live primarily in Central America and the Lesser Antilles. They feed mainly on birds and small mammals, but lizards can also become their victims.
One British researcher once said that a person can live up to 150 years. However, even with this age, we still cannot be included in the list of long-livers, since some organisms can live for several hundred and even thousands of years. People are unlikely to be able to achieve such indicators, but nevertheless, the very fact of the presence of such large-aged individuals in our world is incredibly impressive!
188 years
Among all reptiles, the record holder for longevity can be considered radiant turtles. One of them belonged to the leader of the island of Tonga. Her name was Tui Malila and she lived no less than 188 years.
This species of turtle lives only in Madagascar and is currently on the verge of extinction.
211 years
Mammals also have their own champion - the bowhead whale, whose age can exceed 200 years.
At first, scientists believed that the lifespan of these whales was about 70 years, however, after discovering harpoon tips from the 19th century in their bodies, they changed their minds. The new theory was confirmed by studies of amino acids contained in the eyes and teeth of the animal.
507 years
Arctica islandica is the name of a species of mollusk that, although it looks like quite ordinary shells, receives an honorary prize for longevity among solitary organisms that do not create colonies. Biologists counted the number of rings on the shell of mollusks and found that their age exceeds three hundred years. And the oldest of them, named Min, lived for 507 years.
2,400 years
The mushroom Armillaria solidipes or, simply put, the dark honey fungus has created a furore among scientists. A couple of years ago, a colony of these mushrooms was found underground, covering an area of five square kilometers, more than 2,400 years old.
5,062 years
The same age as many of the oldest civilizations, which has witnessed more than one change of era, is the intermountain bristlecone pine. This small coniferous tree does not have a particularly presentable appearance, and its branches bend at the most ridiculous angles. It does not play a particularly significant role, but for some reason it can live for thousands of years.
Thus, the oldest of the trees of this species was called Methuselah, its age is 5062 years.
11,000 years
However, this shrub with medicinal leaves, Larrea tridentata, easily surpassed pine in longevity. In 1970, a bush whose root system is almost eternal was discovered in the Mojave Desert by Frank Vasek. Despite the fact that its branches live only a couple of hundred years, the age of the organism itself reaches 11,000 years.
34,000 years
According to the official version, the age of the bacterial strain is 34,000 years.
However, in the mid-1990s, several scientists reported that they had revived bacteria that they had extracted from bees immured in amber, which were about 40 million years old. And in 2000, it was announced that the same thing had been done with salt crystal bacteria, whose age is even older - 250 million years.
But since these data still remain unverified, we will still adhere to the official hypothesis.
80,000 years
Clones are the most reliable way to achieve immortality. Perhaps this is why the aspen poplar colony has existed for 80 thousand years.
The colony continues to constantly raise new “children”, it was even given the name Pando.
200,000 years
The Posidonia grass, which grows as a colony at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, can survive up to 200,000 years. But the existence of the marine plant is threatened by both global warming and development of local shores.
Immortality
Researchers call the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish supposedly immortal creatures. Their secret is that when they are threatened with death, they return to their initial stage - polyps - and bud off clones from themselves. This process can last an infinite number of times.