What is the world's largest living creature? Posted on 05/30/2006 11:14:02 PM PDT by LibWhacker
What is the world's largest living creature?
Scientists from the CSIC. the University of the Balearic Islands, Portugal, Carribean and the USA have discovered a Posidonia Oceanica, of more than 8 kilometers in length, and 100,000 years old.
The 'Posideonia Oceanica' is, in layman's terms 'sea grass', and the wavy plains of this plant found off the coasts Ibiza and Formentera, have been, since 1999, part of the reason for the award to Ibiza as a 'Heritage of Humanity'.
The huge plant was discovered between 'Es Freus' (the straits that separate Ibiza from Formentera) and the 'Ses Salines' beach....and quite by accident, as there are more than 100,000,000 of these plants in the area.
The bad news is that, because of the pollution in the Mediterranean, these plants are disappearing at the rate pf 5% per year.
"100,000 years old"
Uh-huh. Cut one and counted the growth rings, did we?
Riiiiiiiight.
/sarc
(not directed at you, LibWhacker)
Sea grass.
Grass?
Libertarian Ping!
We're going to Ibiza...whoa, whoa, whoa.
We're going to have a party...whoa, whoa, whoa.
By the Mediterranean Sea.
Some of the lyrics I can remember from some cheezy song I heard a lot while living in Germany.
these plants are so weak that they are disappearing at 5% a year but they are positive that this plant is 100,000 years old. Thats a nice round figure BTW..
Well, since Posidonia Oceanica grows at an average rate of 3 to 10 cm per year, and this one is over 8 kilometers in size, it doesn't take a genius to figure roughly how long this one has been growing, does it?
Save your sarcasm for a case where it's actually waranted, and not just an expression of your lack of knowledge causing you to make incorrect presumptions.
If indeed 'average' is 'average' and if there were years when conditions yielded growth far in excess of 'average' then the age estimate could in fact be considerably in error.
As I contend it is.
But if you're content with a premise that this plant indeed always grew slowly, then no amount of arguing will change your mind.
No problem.
Believe as you choose.
What is probably the largest living organism on earth has been discovered in the Malheur National Forest in eastern Oregon. A fungus living three feet underground is estimated to cover 2,200 acres. After testing samples from various locations, scientists say it is all one organism.
One Thousand Football Fields
Officially known as Armillaria ostoyae, or the honey mushroom, the fungus is 3.5 miles across and takes up 1,665 football fields. The small mushrooms visible above ground are only the tip of the iceberg.
Experts estimate that the giant mushroom is at least 2,400 years old, but could be 7,200 years old.
Previously, the world's largest organism was another Armillaria ostoyae, which covers a mere 1,500 acres near Mt. Adams in Washington state.
A Web of Tentacles
Scientists became interested in that section of forest when trees began to die. The honey mushroom uses tentacles, called rhizomorphs, to take water and nutrients from roots, killing trees.
The process benefits the ecosystem by creating clearings where new plants grow. Animals, such as woodpeckers, live in the dead tree trunks. Mushrooms also recycle nutrients.
Dry Climate Helps
The dry climate of eastern Oregon discourages competition from new growth, leaving space for mushrooms already established.
Genetically Closer to People
In other research, scientists have determined that fungi are more closely related to human beings and animals than to other plants.
Moreover, while humans and most species are divided into only two sexes, mushrooms contain over 36,000 sexes.
If it's not a creature, then it's the Creator. The Lovecraftians would love that.
Thanks for posting that. I knew that this grass was nowhere near that fungus as far as size.
That just happens to be Oprah's biological name.
Quick... who has a Jack Lalanne Power Juicer??
if grass counts as a living creature, then planet earth also counts as a living creature, and I retain all rights for being the first one to discover the largest living creature on earth, the earth itself.
I'm not surprised. There are trees older than most countries. Still, dang! A hundred thousand years...that would make one really, really old joint.
And how'd they fiqure out it was 100,000 years old? And what do they do if they find one as part of an index fossil record?
"these plants are so weak that they are disappearing at 5% a year but they are positive that this plant is 100,000 years old. Thats a nice round figure BTW.."
I'd seriously like to read where they came up with this. There's not much with this article at all. And what's the fossil record demonstrate. Sounds pretty interesting.
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