Talk:List of long-living organisms

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This article was nominated for deletion on May 7, 2007. The result of the discussion was Keep.

Contents 1 Candidates 2 Clone colony one plant? 3 Some other long-lived organisms 4 Long-lived species? 5 Turritopsis nutricula 6 Are Norway Spruce clonal colonies or individual organisms?

[edit] Candidates

The following links should be worked into the article somehow:

• Prometheus (tree)
• Pando (Quaking Aspen)
• Tree#Champion trees

Melchoir 10:20, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

...and a few other articles that now link here. Melchoir 10:28, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

---

• Prometheus (tree)
• Pando (Quaking Aspen)

done--sin-man 04:54, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Clone colony one plant?

In a discussion on the science ref desk someone pointed out that clones are no more alike than identical twins. In which case the clonal colonies can hardly be regarded as one plant. I don't suggest removing them, but if the comparison makes sense it might make sense to make it in the article because it rather puts things in perspective. DirkvdM 19:15, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Clonal colonies are one plant. They are physically contiguous, like your body. So it's more like conjoined twins, although in the case of plants there is no meaningful distinction between two and one if they're connected and genetically identical. In animals there is.

[edit] Some other long-lived organisms

I understand that for certain freshwater fish -- for example,

• sturgeons -- if they manage to live past a certain age, they, in effect, become immortal & can only die from accident or the intervention of man. (Sorry, no cite)
• Oliver Rackham claims that the Queen's Oak at Huntingsfield, Suffolk is "about a thousand years old" -- as well as "the wonderful pollards of Winsdor Great Park -- while some coppice stools in the Bradfield Woods, Suffolk, are "among the oldest living things in Britain (at least a thousand years)". (Trees and woodland in the British landscape [London: Phoenix Press, 2001], pp. 14f.)
• I've also seen mention that Baobab trees are very long-lived, easily over a thousand years. Does anyone have more information? -- llywrch 00:53, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Lobster, crab can both live practically eternally - i'll try to find a cite

[edit] Long-lived species?

Is there a comparable list for long-lived species? I can't find one but it would surely be of interest & would add relevant context for this list. --lquilter 01:22, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Turritopsis nutricula

Since the Turritopsis nutricula is the only known immortal species, it's likely that the oldest continuously living animal on the planet is a jellyfish of this species (I would have thought). Can we have some coverage of this in the article, please. --Wragge 16:30, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Are Norway Spruce clonal colonies or individual organisms?

I'm not a botanist, but the Norway Spruce don't strike me as colonies like Pando. The oldest root has itself been dated to about 8000 years old. I would call a root a part of an individual organism, even if the trunks are more temporary. What defines a tree? Granted, the trunk is what we supra-surface organisms notice most of the time, but isn't a root an important part of a tree? And so wouldn't a root that has been growing and maturing for 8000 years represent a single organism rather than a colony? In the case of Pando, by contrast, I don't think anyone's claiming that any given root has persisted for thousands of years. Jbening (talk) 04:36, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Each and every clonal organism can, in itself, be considered an individual organism - it'd just be a really really big individual organism. Whether or not it remains a continuous cell mass, isn't of massive importance (as trees can be divided and fused and still survive perfectly well); what is important is how genetically identical the trees are - supra-surface stems that are identical must have been born of the same 'flesh'. 82.18.44.72 (talk) 04:56, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

So when we have separate organisms as a result of vegetative reproduction, you choose to regard them as a single organism? --Michael C. Price ^talk 09:21, 26 April 2008 (UTC)