The World's Oldest Animal Lived to Be How Old?!

The world's oldest animal is believed to have lived to the age of 507-years-old, according to a team of researchers.

Arctica islandica. (Image source: Fishwatch.gov)

The Arctica Islandica, a type of clam, was discovered by a team of researchers visiting Iceland in 2006, according to website Science Nordic.

But, at the time, scientists inaccurately placed the clam's age at 405 years old. After using more sophisticated methods, researchers now think this particular clam lived to 507 years-old, making it the world's longest living animal.

“We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hastingly publishing our findings back then. But we are absolutely certain that we’ve got the right age now,” Paul Butler, an ocean scientist, told Science Nordic.

The new discovery means the clam, which died in 2006, was born in 1499 — just a few years after Columbus sailed to America, as Science Nordic keenly noted.

“The age has been confirmed with a variety of methods, including geochemical methods such as the carbon-14 method. So I am very confident that they have now determined the right age. If there is any error, it can only be one or two years,” marine biologist Rob Witbaard of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, told Science Nordic.

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