Learnt on "Wait Wait..."

[urbpan]

Worlds oldest living animal discovered, killed.

It must have come as an unpleasant shock to the Iceland clam to be scraped up after more than four centuries of doing virtually nothing - the quiet, safe life of a clam, according to Faragher, could explain its longevity.

Comments

humanity's legacy: find it, kill it.

[hhw]

Your link text is pretty much exactly my response when I first read about it last week.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

unfortunately the animal was dead by the time its age was determined...

age is determined by cutting the shell in half...

well, duh. i think they have that kinda backwards.

also, i'd think the rapid pressure change would've ruined its day.

1000s of shells, 34? live clams... there's probably only 60 of them left; good job guys! :P

#

[ankhanu.livejournal.com]

Arctica islandica isn't listed with any conservation status; they're numbers (as far as we know) are ok.

Shame the clam died though; it probably had a few years left to filter away.