All of the above-ground trees sprout from the same root system and so share the same genes. It can be difficult to tell, as with clonal organisms, you often can't rely on the same method of figuring out an age.įor example, there is an old stand of quaking aspen trees in Utah that is actually one clonal male organism. However, some clonal organisms may have lifespans longer than that. Image by NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition.ġ1,000 is extremely old, and may actually end up being the oldest among individual or clonal organisms, and the oldest animal.
Sea sponges may grow slower and live much longer in colder waters. This helps them figure out its age, but also the bodies of these creatures can tell scientists about how the environment has changed over time.Ī glass sea sponge. Researchers can look at the way the sea sponge bodies formed, and understand a bit about what the sea temperature was while they were developing. Researchers have found a glass sponge they think is over 11,000 years old in the East China Sea. One of these trees has been measured to be over 4,850 years old! While this may make it the longest-living single organism on land, it seems it is surpassed by a sea sponge. It is found in the American West, mostly in Utah, Nevada, and California. The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) is a species of pine tree. They may grow, reproduce, and appear to die, but a young mushroom nearby shares the exact same genes and is technically the same organism.īack to the number part of the ages.So, getting back to the question.first, let's focus on non-clonal organisms (just one individual). For example, some mushrooms you see separately above ground are part of the same network underground. In clonal colonies, all individuals are part of or come from the same ancestral individual. An individual is hard to define because some organisms make up clonal colonies.
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