Oldest Living Creature

[Walkleycarol]

What is the oldest living creature on the planet?

[delboy3]

a Galapagos tortoise, 175 yrs old

but there are some trees supposed to be thousands of years old

[delboy3]

See below for article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4442020.stm

yes, I know trees aren't creatures but they are still living organisms

[Octavius]

A few years ago biologists successfully revived a bacterium after it apparently remained dormant for 250 million years encased in a salt crystal. The ancient bacteria would have earned the title of oldest living life form ever found. The previous record-holder was a bacterium living inside a bee that had been encased in amber for 25 million to 40 million years.

Harriet the giant Galapagos land tortoise at 175 is the oldest creature on Earth. The Guinness Book of Records cites her as the world's oldest living animal, not far off smashing the all-time record of 188 years, set by another Galapagos tortoise, now deceased. Harriet, whose correct gender was established only a few decades ago, was born in 1830, when Charles Dickens was still an 18-year-old lad.

[rsd2525]

Hi, i'm not thick but i used to think the galapagos islands were the only place to find these until i visited a wild life area not far from mombasa, was i surprised or what, they were that big but young,only 112 years old!!

[jeanette1976]

Dame Barbara Cartland.

[Celtigra3]

Barbara Cartland is dead!

Apparently it is a tortoise that was around in Napoleon's Day on Elba