# What is the oldest animal alive today? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781 "2009-06-15T00:23:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/1 "2009-06-15T00:23:22Z")
I know that some plants can live for thousands of years. I had heard that the tortoise could live 150 years or so. I told my son today that crows can live 100 years though I am not sure of that. Yesterday, at a reptile presentation, the herpatologist said that the bowhead whale has the longest known lifespan clocking in at around 250 years. He said they know this because they found an ancient spearhead lodged in a whale. Wikipeadia says the arrowhead was only 130 years old. Still, is the bowhead the oldest verifiable animal on the planet? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/2 "2009-06-15T00:33:44Z")
[http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/10/the\_oldest\_animal.php](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/10/the_oldest_animal.php) ---
**Author:** ![badlyburnttoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@badlyburnttoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badlyburnttoast)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/3 "2009-06-15T00:42:10Z")
According to this article: [400 Year Old Clam Found -- Oldest Animal Ever](http://www.physorg.com/news112870855.html) the oldest known animal was a ~400 year old clam. It’s not alive anymore, though so I guess it doesn’t count however they say there are likely more clams just as old or older. If you count corals (which are communal organisms) according to this site here: [Deep-corals are world’s oldest animal | Deep Sea News](http://deepseanews.com/2009/03/deep-corals-are-worlds-oldest-animal/) there are corals that are 4,000+ years old. I wouldn’t count it though, that’s more like counting an ant colony then individual ants. Turritopsis nutricula ([Turritopsis nutricula - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_nutricula)) is theoretically immortal, though we don’t have any real records of long-living ones so they might not count either. As far as I know, the oldest known living creature that is still alive today is Jonathan the tortoise at 176 last year (so possible 177 now, not sure of his birthday). [World's oldest living animal discovered after he is pictured in 1900 photograph](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3545540/Worlds-oldest-living-animal-discovered-after-he-is-pictured-in-1900-photograph.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/4 "2009-06-15T03:35:58Z")
When an amoeba divides, does it have to start counting all over again? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/5 "2009-06-15T05:45:40Z")
Amoebae aren’t animals. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/6 "2009-06-15T06:01:06Z")
Sponges beyond any doubt. Most sponges are effectively immortal and only die as a result of injury. The oldest definite age for a sponge is ~500 years, but many deep sea individuals have reliably estimated ages of over 1, 000 years with extreme estimates of over 2, 000 years. That puts the lifespan of those species in the same age range as the oldest plants. You aren’t going to manage older than that in an animal unless you want to get into picky technicalities. Sorry, this is the SDMB. Of course we want to picky technicalities. Some animals are capable of entering extended periods of aestivation, essentially hibernation. It’s not unheard of to find such animals in sediments of permafrost estimated to be thousands of years old. So they may be technically older than the sponges, but whether they were truly alive that whole time is debatable. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/7 "2009-06-15T06:06:37Z")
My mistake. The oldest age estimate for sponge seem to be in excess of [4,000 years](http://mgg.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/sil/work1.htm). 400 years for a clam? Bah. A mere child. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/8 "2009-06-15T12:08:17Z")
The modern definition of “animal”, though, is something like "multicellular metazoan --cnidiarians and up. I’m not sure where that leaves sponges. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/9 "2009-06-15T12:40:55Z")
That’s Godzilla, right? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/10 "2009-06-15T13:14:10Z")
There’s a roach in my garage that carries around a set of tiny stone tablets. Haven’t had the heart to stomp it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/11 "2009-06-15T13:59:42Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > The modern definition of “animal”, though, is something like "multicellular metazoan --cnidiarians and up. I’m not sure where that leaves sponges. Sponges _are_ multicellular metazoans. Although there has been speculation that they may be independently derived, they are still generally classed as members of the Animalia. In fact, [a recent study](http://nimravid.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/the-metazoan-tree-of-life-improved/) indicates that Ctenophores (comb jellies) and not sponges are the basal lineage of the Animalia. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/12 "2009-06-15T14:01:18Z")
Another potentially immortal animal is the [Hydra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(genus)). ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/13 "2009-06-15T14:07:12Z")
What about the oldest living vertebrate? Would that go to the tortoise? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/14 "2009-06-15T14:30:05Z")
Whales are vertebrates… ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/15 "2009-06-15T14:48:04Z")
From googling, it says that crows can live up to thirty years. Why did you tell your son they could live to 100 years if you weren’t even sure? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/16 "2009-06-15T16:31:10Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Amoebae aren’t animals. In my day, in school, it was a plant or an animal or a rock. Of course that was before the coming of the white man, who oppressed the amoebas and segregatged him into his own community. Oh sure they say he’s “happier” with his own kind, but we all know he’d rather be free to associate with animals 😃 ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/17 "2009-06-15T16:33:59Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > From googling, it says that crows can live up to thirty years. Why did you tell your son they could live to 100 years if you weren’t even sure? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-animal-alive-today/499781/18 "2009-06-15T18:01:25Z")
> [@](#): > > From googling, it says that crows can live up to thirty years. Why did you tell your son they could live to 100 years if you weren’t even sure? Reading too much Tolkien, perhaps?