World’s oldest animal found

British scientists have found a 400-yr old clam, the world’s longest-living animal, off the coast of Iceland, which may reveal the secret of longevity.

The scientists say the discovery of the quahog clam, a bivalve millusc, aged between 405 and 410 years old, might allow them to get a better understanding of the ageing process, as well as revealing the secrets of a long life.

The creature was nicknamed Ming, after the dynasty which ruled China at the beginning of the life.

“When the animal was a juvenile, King James 1 replaced Queen Elizabeth 1 as English monarch. Shakespeare was writing his plays – Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth – and Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for espousing the view that the sun rather then the earth was the centre of the universe,” Bangor University said in a release.

The scientists calculated the age of the animal by counting the annual growth rings on the shell, a technology similar to that of estimating a tree’s age.