Wednesday 9 June 2021

Old Woman Rotifer?

A team from the Soil Cryology Lab used radiocarbon dating, confirming that Dbelloid rotifers, from deep drillings in the Siberian permafrost, were 24,000 years old (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/07/24000-year-old-organisms-found-frozen-in-siberia-can-still-reproduce). These tiny multicellular animals have been around at least 35 million years. Rotifers are known for their ability to withstand extreme condions such as radiation, low oxygen levels, very low temperatures etc. They enter a state of crytobiosis that involves stopping all the normal living processes. Dbelloid rotifers are always female reproducing by cloning (dividing into 2 copies) themselves. The 24,000 year-old specimens could still successfully procreate. Now, that's tough! Some life will still be around, if humans manage to wreck the planet!

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