Capturing the world's oldest living things

CNN ^ | July 26 2010 | Dean Irvine

[Daffynition]

Rachel Sussman is a time traveler. For the last few years, the American photographer has journeyed across the globe on a mission to bring back images of the world's oldest living organisms.

In her ongoing project, Sussman has traveled to the primal landscapes of southern Greenland, the timeless high-altitude Andean deserts of South America and even under the ocean.

"[The project] is a celebration and record of our past, a call to action now, and also a barometer of our future," she told CNN.

Sussman began her time-traveling trips in 2004 while visiting the island of Yakushima in Japan to see a reportedly 2,200-year-old tree. On her return to the U.S., the idea to photograph an example of other long-living ancient species germinated and grew.

[Daffynition]

SLIDESHOW

La Llareta from the Atacama desert in Chile, it can be up to 3,000 years old.

[Tanniker Smith]

(silently making a list of the most likely photos to be posted first . . . )

[Mr. Jazzy]

Senate Democrats?

[americanophile]

[jagusafr]

Does it mean we’ve all been on this site too long when we’d’ve been disappointed if Ms. Thomas’ picture wasn’t posted within the first 5 responses? Whew...

Colonel, USAFR

[cripplecreek]

She missed the big fungus. Course those are a bit harder to photograph being underground and all.

[americanophile]

It had to be done...

[greatdefender]

Do you think this should be in a wax museum or Ripley’s?

[Daffynition]

It didn't take *that* long.

[Daffynition]

Perfect! ;)

I think Sunken Civ collects fossil info.

[Professional Engineer]

Youngsters.

Bristlecone Pine - 5000 years.

[Daffynition]

She seems to be an adventurous spirit. Maybe she'll learn spelunking ...she learned diving.

[BenLurkin]

[Daffynition]

Playing catch-up ...her image of a Clonal Spruce, standing alone on a plateau in a Swedish park near the Norwegian border. **The shrubby-looking growth near the ground represents most of the tree's age -- in fact the stem (or trunk) that we recognize as tree-like is actually a product of climate change -- the tree has grown taller as the mountain top has grown warmer.**

[Daffynition]

HAHAHA! Capturing the world's dumbest living things.

[*That looks very hurtful!*]

[Tanniker Smith]

And that was the subject on the top of my list.

[T Minus Four]

What, they didn’t get the evolution memo? They should be at least low-order mammals by now.

[Daffynition]

There oughtta be an award...

[Daffynition]

[redhead]

Oh, man! I’m cryin’ here. We used to call that “jumping cholla,” because if you barely touched it, it would “jump” at you (the segments would detach and stick to you and/or your clothing).