I am re-posting a question I aked in January 2003. Why? Because I think it
asks a fundamental question about life, which is very possibly the most
interesting topic of all. The original question, ga ID# 136059 (posted under a
different ga handle, knowitall22) had ten comments, was never answered
despite clues provided, and drove at least one researcher slightly nuts. The
question is, briefly: What is the oldest verified age of an animal?
   To clarify and avoid digression: 1) It must be in captivity. I hope
it is self evident that wild animals cannot be documented for age. 2)
Estimates of the
age of wild animals are not relevant. Perhaps some creature may live 500 or
1000 years in the wild, but extrapolations and guesses are not the issue here,
which is VERIFICATION. 3) It must be older than 250 years.
   See 136059 for details.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 19 May 2004 20:11 PDT

Sort of a wild animal, but apparently documented just the same:

http://www.exn.ca/Stories/2002/06/12/51.asp

"At 171 years of age, Harriet is the oldest known living creature on earth..."


Not quite at the 250 year mark, but from all appearances, she still be
around for a while yet.

Hi, and thanks for the question

I knew I'd get there eventually :)

This from "The World's Oldest Koi" at 
http://www.arborman.com/koioldest.htm

One of the reasons that the Japanese people value an outstanding Koi
is that they consider them to be living jewels.  When Koi are
purchased, they are looked upon as long lived creatures to be passed
down from generation to generation.  The story of the oldest recorded
Koi is fascinating, and the information below is taken from June 1997
issue of  Koi USA magazine.  The full story is a transcription of a
radio broadcast done by Dr. Koshihara, and first published in "Live
Jewels" in 1968.  It is reprinted verbatim in Koi USA, and my writing
does not do justice to the event.

Hanako is the name of this Koi that lived at the base of Mt. Ontake. 
When Dr. Koshihara would call Hanako from across the pond, she would
come to his feet to be petted on the head.  Occasionally he would take
her out of the pond and embrace her.   This was his favorite spot at
the side of the pond, and he went there often.

The pond is located deep in the mountains of the Mino Province.  The
waters are pure that feed this pond which is less than 20 feet across.
 Besides Hanako, there are five other fish that swim in this pond, and
each is also old.  They are 170 years, 155, 151, 141, and another 141
years old.  The Koshihara family had been the village head for many
generation from the time of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the house and
pond had been with the family since the beginning.

Hanako died on July 17, 1977 at the age of 226 years.

Willie-ga

search used
longevity asian fish

willie-ga: Good work! Sorry, I hadn't noticed you did post it as an
answer. There were so many comments that I overlooked it.
monroe22

I nominate Zsa Zsa Gabor.

Methuselah.

pinkfreud: As always, you are either precisely correct, or witty. 
monroe22

pafalafa-ga: Yes, Harriet is indeed old, but the accompanying text
which states she is the oldest known living creature is
incorrect...merely publicity for her zoo. The species I have in mind
have many examples older than 200 years. I am somewhat surprised that
the clues I gave in 136059 haven't been explored.
monroe22

probonopublico:
   The things that you're liable
   To read in the Bible
   Ain't necessarily so

monroe22

OK, OK, but if the Bible is not an acceptable source then NOBODY can
doubt the integrity of the New York Times, surely?

"Daoist sage Li Ching yuen, a Chinese scholar who died
in the early 1930's, lived, according to an article in
the New York Times, to be 260 years old."

http://home.attbi.com/~bagua/bagua.html

As you will know, I picked this up from the previous question,
courtesy of Sublime1-ga.

Subby, I hope you don't mind.

Bryan

Hi

The paper "Growth Rings and Longevity in Bivalves
by Dr. Douglas S. Jones" at
http://coa.acnatsci.org/conchnet/jones893.html has this to say:

"The Ocean Quahog, Arctica islandica, currently holds the longevity
record for bivalves as well as for all non-colonial invertebrates, and
may, in fact, be the longest-lived animal. Individuals dredged from
the middle Atlantic continental shelf often show over 150 annual
growth increments. One specimen had 220! Because of these unusually
high age estimates, mark-and-recovery experiments were supplemented by
radiometric dating techniques to test the yearly periodicity of the
internal growth rings. The results verified the annual nature of the
rings and confirmed the conclusions regarding age. The longest-lived
animal on earth may well be a bivalve!

I know.....it came from the wild.....but there might be a clam that's
been sitting in a clam farm for centuries, just waiting to have its
growth rings counted :)

willie-ga

"Daoist sage Li Ching yuen, a Chinese scholar who died in the early
1930's, lived, according to an article in the New York Times, to be
260 years old."

Yes Bryan

But was he kept in captivity?

Digs

Digs

Hadn't you heard?

Living in China in the Communist era WAS living in captivity. Ask any archeologist.

As far as I recall, Ingrid Bergman and a gang of kids were the only
ones who managed to escape.

Bryan

It's only necessary for the candidate in question to be in captivity
if it's non-human. If he or she is not a worm or some deep sea
creature, the factor of captivity is less of an issue because claims
of years already lived can be corroborated more easily. I've just
signed up to join the 'members only' YAHOO group dedicated to the work
of Sage Li, and I'll report back any findings relevant to this issue.

There are cases of Bacteria that are judged to be ... 1/4 billion
years old and still living.
But I guess you just want the oldest living creature - it seems to
depend on the source. The oldest living creature that can be
abosolutely verified is currently less than 250 years old, but not far
off at 188 years old.

http://www.extremescience.com/OldestLivingcreature.htm

A Madagascar radiated tortoise (Geochelone radiata) presented to the
Tongan royal family by the British explorer Captain Cook in either
1773 or 1777 lived to the age of at least 188 years old! The animal
was called Tui Malila. The venerated tortoise appears in the photo at
left taken in 1953 when Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh
visited the Tongan royal family.

Madagascar radiated tortoises are an endangered species found living
only in the extreme south of the Island of Madagascar. They are called
radiated tortoises because of the unique pattern of coloring on their
shells, where yellow streaks radiate from the the 'scales' on the top
shell - the carapace. They aren't very large animals, only growing to
about 35 lbs/15.75kgs.

What's Their Secret?

Tortoises can live extra long lives because their vital systems do not
weaken with age, as ours do. They can also survive for very long
periods without water or food, living off of their 'reserves'. If
you've ever watched a tortoise move you know that they are extremely
S-L-O-W. They can go for very long periods without moving, too. An
animal that can go without food or moving for a long time has very low
energy requirements. In other words, it doesn't take much to keep
these tough guys going, and going and going...

However - perhaps these will perk your curiosty ; 'Little animals'
were discovered living in the drainpipes and gutters that were named
'water bears' or tardigrades. These little moss-bears can survive
being dried up as dust, flooded, deprived of oxygen, subjected to 1000
atmospheres of pressure and are even thought possibly to have came
from outer space in a crashed comet due to thier amazing survival
posibilities. They are thought to live well beyond 100 years old
http://kancrn.org/tardigrades/cbackground.cfm.

To the many who added comments on May 20: Your very interesting
comments are truly appreciated. My response is: Li Ching Yuen was 260
years old? Very doubtful, since no other verified example of human
longevity is even remotely close to that age. This seems to be an
example of a family legend that ran out of control. Did China have
official birth certificates for EVERYONE in the year 1670, his
putative birth year? Nonetheless, even if true, Mr. Li was not as old
as the example I have in mind. As for quahogs, Madagascar tortoises
and microscopic life, none of those meet the age of my example either.
  It should self-evident that free ranging marine animals are unlikely
candidates UNLESS there is a method of unequivocally determining their
age. Clams, quahogs, shellfish in general? Possible but unlikely.
  I thought I gave obvious clues in question 136059. Here's one more:
The long lived animals that I maintain hold longevity records are kept
by hobbyists.
If no one can figure that out, I'll answer my own question and pay myself $20.00
monroe22

I thought it was going to be a parrot, but the oldest referenced I can
find is 120...way too short.

Willie-ga

On the other hand, it could well be Koi Carp

This from "The World's Oldest Koi" at 
http://www.arborman.com/koioldest.htm

One of the reasons that the Japanese people value an outstanding Koi
is that they consider them to be living jewels.  When Koi are
purchased, they are looked upon as long lived creatures to be passed
down from generation to generation.  The story of the oldest recorded
Koi is fascinating, and the information below is taken from June 1997
issue of  Koi USA magazine.  The full story is a transcription of a
radio broadcast done by Dr. Koshihara, and first published in "Live
Jewels" in 1968.  It is reprinted verbatim in Koi USA, and my writing
does not do justice to the event.

Hanako is the name of this Koi that lived at the base of Mt. Ontake. 
When Dr. Koshihara would call Hanako from across the pond, she would
come to his feet to be petted on the head.  Occasionally he would take
her out of the pond and embrace her.   This was his favorite spot at
the side of the pond, and he went there often.

The pond is located deep in the mountains of the Mino Province.  The
waters are pure that feed this pond which is less than 20 feet across.
 Besides Hanako, there are five other fish that swim in this pond, and
each is also old.  They are 170 years, 155, 151, 141, and another 141
years old.  The Koshihara family had been the village head for many
generation from the time of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the house and
pond had been with the family since the beginning.

Hanako died on July 17, 1977 at the age of 226 years.

willie-ga: Bingo! The answer is indeed koi. One specimen was
determined to be 289 years old. How? By counting annual rings on their
scales. Koi reahing 200 years are commonplace. As of today, there is
no KNOWN limit to their longevity.
All other animals claiming the record can take a hike.
  Fish in general, are relatively long-lived. Perhaps there is are
marine species that live hundreds of years, assuming they have scales
with annual growth rings. But there are two problems: 1) Catching an
old specimen, 2) mortality rates. Hence, being in captivity helps a
lot.
  I happen to have a koi pond. They are beautiful, interesting
creatures, yet it is somewhat depressing to contemplate that my pets
will outlive me.
  willie-ga: If you are a Google Answers researcher, post your comment
as an answer and collect your money.
monroe22-ga

> As you will know, I picked this up from the previous question,
> courtesy of Sublime1-ga.
>
> Subby, I hope you don't mind.
>
> Bryan

If I don't tell you, it's because I'm being coy.

Maybe I'll live longer that way...  : )

sublime1-ga

Congratulations, Willie.

However, I must confess to a little disappointment, I had fully
expected that Monroe22 would have revealed that he/she was actually
the holder of the title.

No newspaper headlines on this occasion.

Sorry, Journalist-ga!

probonopublico-ga: In a sense, I could be a contender if I can hang in
there for another 213 years. Anyway, the many comments have been
interesting.
Monroe22 is a he.
Regards,
monroe22-ga

Another disappointment!

I had been hoping for a Marilyn.

Never mind, Vaughan, nobody's perfect.

a tibetan monk was said to have lived 256 yrs of age.

Li Ching yuen, the alleged 250 year old <br>
ttp://www.alamut.com/past/9906_jun.html

creatures that possess longevity seem to me to make parallels with
cosmic stars.  Those which process their fuel sources fastest are
first to die(explode). blue stars being the shortest lived, red stars
the longest.

Similarly, a creature's metabolism could be thought of as the
processing of its energy source.  A sparrow consumes an extrodinary
amount of food in comparison to it's bodyweight and lives 5 years in
the wild.  A tortoise has a very low metabolic rate.

A human such as daoist sage Li Ching yuen, who spends much of his time
in meditation might have extended his life confined to close quarters
achieving stresslessness and serenity for perhaps days on end with
little food or drink.  Its also been shown that mild starvation
extends the life of things, dubbed as "the good type of stress," hence
all the sexually active supercentenarians in okinawa.

Red wine is also said to have life-extending characteristics - hence
the supercentenarians in the islands of cicily, sardinia and corsica. 
I am 20 years of age, and my grandfather's father is of pure italian
decent at 95 years of age.  He still drives to this day.