Oldest Living Thing on Earth Discovered

Posted: February 9, 2012  |  By: Jonathan Pearlman [The Telegraph]

Australian scientists sequenced the DNA of samples of the giant seagrass, Posidonia oceanic, from 40 underwater meadows in an area spanning more than 2,000 miles, from Spain to Cyprus.

The analysis, published in the journal PLos ONE, found the seagrass was between 12,000 and 200,000 years old and was most likely to be at least 100,000 years old.

This is far older than the current known oldest species, a Tasmanian plant that is believed to be 43,000 years old.

Prof. Carlos Duarte, from the University of Western Australia, said the seagrass has been able to reach such old age because it can reproduce asexually and generate clones of itself.

Organisms that can only reproduce sexually are inevitably lost at each generation, he added.

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