The idea of immortality is almost as old as mankind itself. There are countless myths of fountains of youth, mystical elixirs that increase lifespan as well as attempts to create lifestyles that would make one live long, if not forever, but all this is just fantasy, right? It turns out that immortality is possible in the world that we live in now. The nature holds secrets to unusually long lives and even ways how to live forever. Let’s take a look at 5 of the most impressive immortal creatures and learn their secrets.
5. Turtles
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
All species that can live longer than humans are doing better than us. The fact that turtles can live for a couple of centuries might not be news to you. However, you might not know that biologically there is almost no difference between a young turtle and a turtle that is far into its second century of life. That means that the way how turtles age is different than humans. It’s like as soon turtles reach their puberty, their organs stop aging. Teenage mutant ninja turtles might not be that mutant after all because of this. Also it seems that turtle hearts don’t always beat in response to nerve impulses, and sometimes they don’t even beat at all. It is as if they could turn it off when it is not needed. So, living well over hundred years is impressive, yet that is still far from immortality. How come that oceans aren’t overcrowded with turtles? Turtles can die, but that is never from old age. They die from diseases or predators.
4. Bdelloids
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
These little fellows are microscopic animals that can survive for ten years outside of fresh water, which is their their natural habitat, and surprisingly, can even withstand powerful blasts of radiation before becoming infertile. These creatures haven’t reproduced sexually for almost hundred million years. This is an interesting fact, since most of animal species in nature survive much better if they reproduce sexually, because this adds diversity in their genes. Bdelloids do take care of mixing genes, but they do that in a unique way. They steal them from other species. A single bdelloid specimen could have genetic material from hundreds of different species. This is possible because their DNA chain has breaks, allowing to add genomes from nearby dead animals, for example. This genetic versatility makes them much more likely to survive in environments that would be deadly to most species.
3. Jellyfish Turritopsis-Nutricula
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Turritopsis nutricula is a tiny jellyfish, only 4 to 5 mm long, but their lives can potentially be infinite. These creatures have an ability to regenerate. When a mature jellyfish is in obstacles that can threaten its life, for example, when it is starving or injured, it can attach itself to the ocean surface where it was born and turn into a polyp. Its cells then undergo a very strange transformation. They are literally reverting back to their baby-state. Muscle cells can transform into sperm or egg cells, nerve cells can turn into muscle cells. In whole animal kingdom there is nothing even remotely close to this. Surprisingly, this animal reproduces asexually so all specimens are genetically identical.
2. Clams
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Clams can live up to half of millennium years old. That means, there might be some clams out there in the ocean that are even older than the United States of America. That’s quite impressive. The oldest known clam is currently 410 years old, but who knows what the ocean depths are hiding. The reason why they live so long is because of their incredibly slow aging process. Clam cells are replaced on much, much slower rate than humans. They just slowly grow bigger and bigger. Once clams reach sexual maturity the growth enzymes remain stable for 150 or even more years. Sadly, the scientists don’t know yet how exactly clams can age so slowly.
1. Glass Sponges
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Living for 400-500 years sounds good, doesn’t it? How about living for a thousand? No, how about living more than ten thousand years? Yes, that’s exactly how long can this humble looking little glass sponge live for.The specimens you see in the picture can be older than modern humans. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors could be walking this same old Earth when these creatures became alive. Glass sponges can live up to impressive 15,000 years. They surely are the oldest living animals on this planet. Also they grow very slowly, glass sponges can be two meters long and weigh 10kgs. Scientists take great interest in researching these animals. Thanks to measuring the concentrations of manganese, calcium and oxygen inside some glass sponges, it is now known how the sea temperatures have changed over thousands of years. Who knows what else will we learn from these natural sea archives?
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