Scientists Find Oldest Living Animal, Then Kill It

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,306076,00.html

Only after researchers cut through its shell, which made it more of an ex-clam, and counted its growth rings did they realize how old it had been — between 405 and 410 years old.

Another clam of the same species had been verified at 220 years old, and a third may have lived 374 years. But this most recent clam was the oldest yet.

"Its death is an unfortunate aspect of this work, but we hope to derive lots of information from it," postdoctoral scientist Al Wanamaker told London's Guardian newspaper. "For our work, it's a bonus, but it wasn't good for this particular animal."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. I say we burn down the observatory so this can never happen again.

[opihimoimoi]

2. WTF are those assholes doing??? Disgusting and Criminal...Clams have Rights too

Murdering Clams is a Felony

[clydefrand]

3. Anyone want

some antique clam chowder?

[alarimer]

5. I bet it's a little chewy

400 year old clam.

They did not know it was 400 years old until it was already dead. Aging fish involves removing bones called otoliths from the ear, which means the fish is dead. But this info is very important in managing fisheries. You have to know the age structure of the population in order to set bag limits, size limits, etc. Shellfish are probably a little different but I would guess the same information is needed, although most invertebrates are nowhere near that old. Most (shrimp, crabs, etc) live only a few years. I had no idea they could age clams although it makes sense given that the shell is deposited on a yearly basis. Like tree rings. But also the width of those rings tells the scientists about the conditions. I suppose wider rings=more growth and better growing conditions.

[The Stranger]

4. How apropos -- man destroys and kills that which he does not understand.

What a waste is our species.

[alarimer]

6. It's called fisheries biology

It happens all the time.

I have no problem with what they did. None at all.

I do the same thing myself many times. Only we use gill nets and study fish but the principal is the same. We take otoliths to age the fish, fin clips for genetic analysis, samples of reproductive tissue sometimes, and many other things.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

7. And I might add...

That sound Fisheries Biology leads to sound Fisheries management, which results in far healthier stocks of fish, better habitat and sane fishing quotas.

Let's not go all Bambi here.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. And I might add...

you've got to crack a few shells if you want fried clams.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. ...:::droooooollllll:::...

n/t

[NeedleCast]

11. Let's not go all Bambi here.

That's pretty damn funny right there.

:spray:

[JitterbugPerfume]

12. They killed BAMBI-CLAM?

Damn those scientists for doing research! DAMN them I say!

[JanMichael]

46. That's Clambi.

nt

[NashVegas]

21. Yep, Let's Hear It For Ruthless Efficiency

I hope they at least ate it.

[truedelphi]

44. Off in a parallel universe, a group of ambulatory, digit possessing

Giant clams is beheading a four hundred year old human - the oldest living human
on planet ZabnaMayo. The "Save the Human" crowd is muffled by the security forces of
the Clam-ian science and research committees.

And so it goes.

[The Stranger]

13. Apparently, it's not.

It wasn't a run-of-the-mill sample. It was a 400 year old organism.

Not to state the obvious, but that was the reason for the article. And who knows how long it could have lived had it not been killed.

[TZ]

16. Uh but the point is they DIDN'T know that when they killed it..

and they wouldn't have known it without killing it unfortunately. I highly doubt they would have killed it if they had known.

[The Stranger]

40. And, thus, our little conversation has come full circle. Indeed, how apropos.

Only at the end do they understand.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. Maybe it had syphon cancer and wanted to die.

God bless these scientists.

[pscot]

14. Actually, we'll kill pretty much anything that moves

whether we understand it or not



But the white men,...

...they believe
everything is dead:...

...stone, earth, animals,...

...and people,
even their own people.

If things keep trying to live,
white men will rub them out.

Old Lodge Skins

[SmokingJacket]

17. Beats eating it and throwing the shell in the trash. nt

[SoCalDem]

9. Did they jump up and down and wave their foam fingers in the air?

chanting UK, UK, UK, after they killed it ?

[Javaman]

15. Later that night...

the scientists cried about the loss of such an amazing creature killed by their own hands, over a nice yummy meal of linguine with clam sauce.

[0rganism]

20. "The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things..."

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
"To play them such a trick,
After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!"
The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html

[book_worm]

18. well at 410 years old it had a good run.

[hedgehog]

19. Actually, they killed it and then found it, so to speak.

[MasonJar]

22. I am sorry, but their research was just spoiled by killing the clam.

Now no one will be able to ascertain how long it might have lived. If it was obviously old, why not observe even if took generations? Otherwise, if its age was not important. why kill it at all?

[XemaSab]

31. It sounds like it was a deep ocean animal

A lot of those die when brought to the surface.

[TahitiNut]

45. Nope. 80 meters is within human diving limits - 8 atmospheres of pressure at that depth.

While recreational divers should limit themselves to 120' (about 37 meters), mixed gas and decompression diving can go to 80 meters or more.

[The Straight Story]

23. It lived that long without universsal health care?

Which is what, I am sure, the freeptards are saying about it all. If not, give it time.

[Basileus Basileon]

24. Headline should be, "Scientists kill clam, find it was oldest living animal." nt

[Katherine Brengle]

26. Too typical.

[aikoaiko]

27. Pass the wasabi

[Arugula Latte]

28. Holy Mollusk.

I had no idea those things could live that long!!! :wow:

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. Me either. 400 years and stupid scientists kill it.

[Blashyrkh]

30. You are refusing to acknowledge that the scientists did not know the age when they killed it.

[Liberal_in_LA]

35. I realize they didn't know the age when they killed. It still sucks that the clam is dead

[truedelphi]

41. Some people won't understand

It makes me sick at times, and then I remember Rachel Carsen taking in the specimens that she needed as a biologist.
After she finished her work, she returned them to the exact spot where the creature had been picked up.

If she could include compassion for everything in her science work, why can't other scientists?

[NeedleCast]

42. Stupid scientists?

errrr...?

[XemaSab]

32. Fox News sucks

This is a shitty headline and the whole article sounds very anti-science.

At least killing this clam is better than the story of the oldest living TREE. That's a shitty story if ever there was one. :(

[Rex]

33. Impossible, only OT people lived to be that old.

Have they checked these clams for Satan?

[lonestarnot]

34. Guess it shouldn't have clammed up and it was already used to waterboarding.

[KittyWampus]

36. Is a clam really an animal?

[ret5hd]

37. uhhhh, yeah. it is.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

43. No, it's a plant.

:eyes:

But seriously, does this have to do with your alternative science you're always carping about?

[progressoid]

38. What a stupid headline and article....oh, it's Faux Noise.

Try these instead:

At 400, clam may be longest-lived animal known
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/071030_old-clam.htm

400-Year-Old Clam Found in Iceland's Waters, Scientists Say
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=ad4uc7L9CwTw&refer=europe

Clam claims oldest animal record
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/oct/29/clam

[Ino]

39. Boy kills bird he's never seen before...

then finds out it was the very last wild Passenger Pigeon in existence...

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/lessons.cfm?BenchmarkID=5&DocID=374

The last recorded wild Passenger Pigeon was shot by a 14-year-old boy of Sargents in Pike County, Ohio on March 24th, 1900. The boy, Press Clay Southworth, died at the age of 94 in 1979. In 1970, he recounted the details of that day:

While feeding the family cows, Press observed a strange bird eating grains of corn in the barnyard. He was very familiar with local birds but did not recognize this one. Young Press asked his mother for permission to take the shotgun and shoot the bird, which he most certainly did in a single shot. His parents quickly identified the bird as a Passenger Pigeon, having seen them in great numbers in their youth. They told him to take the bird to a local lady who was known to do taxidermy. Mrs. Barnes mounted the Pigeon and used buttons for its eyes, hence the birds' nickname "Buttons." Many years later, Mrs. Barnes offered the bird to the state museum in Ohio, and apparently it was not until then that ornithologists determined it to be the last authentic record of a wild Passenger Pigeon.

Ooops! Oh well. I'm sure they derived lots of information from it.

[Alexander]

47. The headline is misleading...should be the other way around.

"Scientists kill oldest living animal, then discovered it"