A microscopic organism may be the longest living creature on earth, when it was discovered living and reproducing after lying frozen for 24,000 years in icy northeastern Siberia.
This creature is bdelloid rotifer — a multicellular organism that can withstand extreme cold and is found in freshwater habitats across the world. It was discovered by Russian scientists in soil taken from the river Alazeya in Russia’s region of Yakutia in far north Siberia.
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While earlier research highlighted its survival for a decade when frozen at -20 degrees Celsius, the latest discovery that was detailed in a study in the journal Current Biology, describes the creature’s longest recorded survival period in a frozen state.
Samples taken from 3.5 metres below ground revealed this organism, which dated between 23,960 and 24,485 years ago, the study stated.
While land encased in permafrost — where the ground is frozen all year round — has for years thrown up startling scientific discoveries. scientists have even earlier revived microscopic worms called nematodes from sediment in two places in northern Siberia that were dated over 30,000 years old. (AW)
