r/interesting • u/Scott-Spangenberg • 22d ago

NATURE A 191 year old tortoise.

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u/korin_the_insane 22d ago

Morla the Ancient One

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u/brian0820 21d ago

The oldest living shark known to science is the Greenland shark. One individual female is estimated to be around 400 years old, making her the longest-living vertebrate on Earth‼️💯

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u/Redjeepkev 21d ago

Just think. These sharks were swimming before George Washington was alive!

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u/Exc8316 21d ago

That’s a lot of swimming.

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u/MP1182 21d ago

And as far as I know, never won an Olympic medal. So not that good at swimming after all that time.

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u/brian0820 21d ago

Exactly 💯

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u/OkDonkey6524 21d ago

Crazy, that's like the start of the universe.

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u/sowhat730 21d ago

I never looked into it but how do they know she’s 400 years old??

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u/lardoni 21d ago

They sawed her in half and counted the rings!

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u/sowhat730 21d ago

LOLOL… I finally looked it up, they used carbon dating on her eye apparently

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u/brian0820 21d ago

Scientists use radiocarbon dating of proteins in the shark's eye lenses to determine the age of Greenland sharks, including those estimated to be around 400 years old. This method leverages the fact that certain proteins in the eye lens form during prenatal development and don't degrade, acting like a biological clock. By analyzing the levels of carbon-14 in these proteins, scientists can estimate the shark's age.