Glass sponges (Hexactinellida) are animals that live 10,000 years. Some scientists think that some glass sponges survive up to 15,000 years. Not only are glass sponges the longest-lived animal on earth, but they're also one of the oldest animal types.
Antarctic Sponges – Anoxycalyx (Scolymastra) joubini, the volcanic sponge, is said to live for a minimum of 15,000 years. This sponge species lives in Antarctica and its growth is very slow.
Monorhaphis chuni, a species of sponge that can live more than 2,000 meters under the sea, can live for 11,000 years.
The oldest known living terrestrial animal is Jonathan, a Seychelles giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea hololissa), originally from the Seychelles but now a long-time resident of the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena. He is believed to have been born c. 1832, thus making him 190 years old in 2022.
The 'immortal' jellyfish, Turritopsis dohrnii
To date, there's only one species that has been called 'biologically immortal': the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii. These small, transparent animals hang out in oceans around the world and can turn back time by reverting to an earlier stage of their life cycle.
1. Sponge - 760 million years old.
The tubeworm Escarpia laminata that lives in deep sea cold seeps regularly reaches the age of between 100 and 200 years, with some individuals determined to be more than 300 years old. Some may live for over 1000 years.
This is the oldest living creature on Earth: Scientists confirm jellyfish-like animal called a 'ctenophore' roamed the planet 700 MILLION years ago. Scientists have confirmed that the oldest living animal on Earth evolved from the first animals from which humans also came.
Even older fossils of familiar creatures have been found. For example, scientists have found extremely old fossils of the nautilus (500 million years old), jellyfish (550 million years old), and sponge (760 million years old). These simple creatures existed even before the horseshoe crab, and they still exist today.
Greenland Shark
Greenland sharks live for between 300 and 500 years and are the longest-living vertebrate. They take life very slowly, moving at an average of 0.76 mph. They grow about a cm every year, and females may not reach sexual maturity until they are 100 to 150 years old – that's one long childhood!
Bowhead whales can live more than 200 years–making them one of the longest-living mammals on Earth. Bowhead whales live in the chilly Arctic and subarctic waters year-round. The bowhead is the fifth largest whale in the ocean, reaching up to 60 feet in length.
In fact, birds are commonly thought to be the only animals around today that are direct descendants of dinosaurs. So next time you visit a farm, take a moment to think about it. All those squawking chickens are actually the closest living relatives of the most incredible predator the world has ever known!
Of those that do exist, the oldest-known jellyfish fossils, found in Utah, date to 505 million years ago and have enough detail to show clear relationships with some modern species of jellyfish.
Because of the chemical degradation of DNA over time, the oldest human DNA retrieved so far is dated at no more than approximately 400,000 years," says Enrico Cappellini, Associate Professor at the Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, and leading author on the paper.
Once upon a time, about 4.5 billion years ago, the Earth was an unformed doughnut of molten rock called a synestia — and the moon was hidden in the filling.
In 2010, El Albani and the team described a multicellular animal in the 2.1-billion-year-old Gabonese outcrop, and now they're describing tunnels that they believe were excavated by a multicellular animal that moved.
Animals of the Stone Age include the cave bear, dire wolf, Glyptodon, marsupial lion, Mastodon, Smilodon and the woolly mammoth. Stone Age animals co-existed with early humans and their ancestors, who by the end of the Stone Age had spread across Eurasia and into The Americas.
The current record for human lifespan is held by Jeanne Calment, who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old. While this is an impressive achievement, it is still far from the 300-year mark. In fact, there is currently no scientific evidence to suggest that it is possible for humans to live for such a long time.
On average, jellyfish will live anywhere from 1-3 years. However, certain species will only live a few days while others are able to live for a few decades.
Turritopsis dohrnii, dubbed 'the immortal jellyfish' may be the oldest living creature on the planet. When this jellyfish gets old, or hurt, or even too hungry, it uses a process called 'transdifferentiation' to regenerate its old cells. First, the jellyfish falls to the ocean floor, or coral reef.
Well, it is turtles and tortoises – they are a special species of animals that just do not age, especially if they are kept in captivation where they have no stress of finding food or avoiding predators.
The First Animals
Sponges were among the earliest animals. While chemical compounds from sponges are preserved in rocks as old as 700 million years, molecular evidence points to sponges developing even earlier.
Tardigrades have been around a long time.
Fossils date their existence on Earth to more than 500 million years ago. This means tardigrades have survived the planet's last five mass extinction events. They owe their longevity to some special characteristics.