Text: Film Society
Sources: All of the information stated in this article is based on reliable sources, and is detailed at the end of the article
I don't know if you have any concept of immortality, I believe that most people hope that they can live as big as possible, since ancient times, people's pursuit of immortality has always existed, but "longevity" has become what we often say!
But in addition to human beings, there are so many creatures on earth that coexist with us, and longevity has become our pursuit, and for them it may be immortal, so what are these animals? If we extract the genes of longevity from them, can human beings really live forever?
Arctic clams
Arctic clams, also known as Icelandic cockles, it is the longest-lived multicellular individual animal that is now known, in 2006 biologists captured an Arctic clam in Iceland, and later in 2013 after research, it was found that this clam has lived on the earth for 507 years, born in the Ming Dynasty in 1499 on the mainland, so its name is "Ming".
Arctic clams live in tidal zones to deep solid sediments, and scientists have found that there are special species in their genes that can delay their aging and death, and the lifespan of Arctic clams can easily exceed 400 years.
Tube worms
Tube worms are a phylum of annelids, with a red head at the top and a straight mineral tube at the bottom, which can reach one to two meters in length at the bottom of the sea, like a giant flower blooming on the bottom of the sea, which is very beautiful.
The bottom of the tube worm is glued to the bottom rocks of the seabed, and the upper part of the red flesh head can move, and these flesh heads also have many tentacles closely connected, they will often come out to move, but if they encounter other substances, they will retract and hide, this animal has sex and heart, but has no mouth and digestive system, and survives under the support of bacteria.
According to scientists, some tube worms may have lived for 250 years, and they do not have to compete with other animals, which also makes them lack natural predators, and a good living environment allows them to live longer.
Greenland sharks
This is the longest-lived vertebrate known on Earth, the average lifespan of Greenland sharks can reach more than 200 years, especially females, it is said that they have to grow up to 4 meters to be considered mature, if you calculate by age, at least 156 years old to be considered adults, and it is not a problem to reach 400 years of life.
The reason why Greenland sharks live so long is mainly because they live in the deep sea, and the low water temperature makes their metabolism slow, so their DNA also ages slowly, and secondly, they move very slowly, unlike other sharks, and some people even say that its longevity is mainly because of "laziness".
Blackhorn coral
Blackhorn coral is a kind of animal that lives in warm waters to live oviparously, because its Google is black and dark brown, so it is called blackhorn coral, unlike other corals, blackhorn coral has a special compound in its body, which can help itself to maintain vitality for a long time, and is extremely resistant to stress.
In 2009, researchers found that they are the world's longest living creatures, about 4,265 years old, and scientists have also found that they only grow about 4 to 35 millimeters per year, with an average lifespan of millennia.
Glass sponge
This is an animal that lives in the icy waters of the western Pacific Ocean, and like most sponge creatures, the glass sponge presents a cylindrical state on the seabed, but the overall skeleton of the glass sponge is composed of silica bone needles, which makes the outside world look like a very dense net, so scientists also call it the Venus flower basket, which looks extremely beautiful.
In 2012, in the journal "Aging Research Review", there is a study on glass sponges, scientists found a glass sponge that has survived for about 11,000 years, the reason why they have such a long lifespan is because they have no viruses and natural enemies, and the cells even have the ability to regenerate and repair, so they can live so long.
Sui-hsien
Hydra is a coelenterate with a brown cylindrical body with a cavity in its body and is a multicellular invertebrate that, although extremely uncommon, does not have the traditional mortality rate.
We all know that geckos can be reborn with a broken tail, while hydra can be reborn with a broken head, not only that, but the most surprising thing is that the hydra can renew itself infinitely, and is even considered to be "immortal".
That is, if there is no predation and destruction by other animals, the hydra can continuously replace the missing body tissues, like a "ship of Theseus" to allow life to continue.
In 2014, in Nature, some hydroids could even survive for more than 1,400 years, because hydroids, as cnidarians, did not evolve a real brain, and their heads were like an individual cell differentiation, and when the head was removed, the head was like a cell leaving its body.
When the head of the hydra is removed, they can quickly induce the formation of a new head "organizer", which directs the differentiation and regeneration of other structures, so that they can live a long life or even live forever!
Lighttower Water Mother
In addition to the hydra, the lighthouse jellyfish is also an extremely long-lived animal, because its body is transparent, and it can see the red digestive system, like a lighthouse, so it is called the lighthouse jellyfish.
When the lighthouse jellyfish is threatened, the adult jellyfish begins to grow backwards, retracting itself into a drop-shaped cyst and going through the development process again to grow into a jellyfish.
Scientists believe that this magical process of "rejuvenation" is that the lighthouse jellyfish may have transformed somatic cells into powerful stem cells through cell transdifferentiation, and the cell function will not change, so that the body can be regenerated, which creates an immortal body.
Of course, in addition to these animals, there are many animals on the earth that we do not understand, perhaps in the future technology, we can really grasp the secrets of genes, in order to make human life longer, these animals also make us feel the wonder of biology and the beauty of nature!
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