This is the only picture of Ming, believed to be
the world’s oldest animal at 507 years old. Not knowing the long life
of the mollusc, researchers at Bangor University opened its shell for
analysis, killing Ming in the process
Not knowing the long life of the
mollusc, researchers at Bangor University opened its shell for analysis,
killing Ming in the process.
By
counting the number of rings visible on the inside shell of the
mollusc, they initially calculated that Ming was an incredible 405 years old.
Scientists have now admitted they made a mistake- and now believe it to be 100 years older than first thought.
Ming’s life came to an abrupt end seven years
ago when scientists from Bangor University dredged the seabed near
Iceland (pictured) as part of a study into climate change
‘We got it wrong the
first time and maybe we were a bit hasty publishing our findings back
then,’ ocean scientist Paul Butler from Bangor University told ScienceNordic.
‘But we are absolutely certain that we’ve got the right age now.’
The problem with the original
calculation was that some of Ming’s growth rings on the inside of the shell had
become too compressed to be seen.
The researchers have now recalculated the age of Ming by looking at the growth rings on the outside of the shell.
The ‘new’ age means that the mollusc was born in 1499.
By counting the number of rings visible on the
outer shell of the mollusc, researchers calculated that Ming was an
incredible 507 years old
By examining the oxygen
isotopes in the growth rings, scientists can find out the sea
temperature at the time when the shell came into being.
What’s even more fascinating, however, are the lessons that the Ming could teach scientists about ageing.
A
few years ago, charity Help the Aged, gave the marine biologists from
Bangor University £40,000 to investigate why this animal lives so long.
The
charity hopes the university will be able to help unlock the secret to
human longevity, or at least make old age a little more palatable.
‘If,
in Arctica islandica, evolution has created a model of successful
resistance to the damage of ageing, it is possible that an investigation
of the tissues of these real life Methuselahs might help us to
understand the processes of ageing,’ said researchers Chris Richardson.
DAILY MAIL
