'Jonathan' is the oldest land animal on Earth

(404media.co)

58 points | by gumby 6 hours ago

10 comments

  • scun 2 hours ago
    > The results revealed that Jonathan has “unique gene variants in most aging pathways” including DNA repair, insulin regulation, mitochondrial function, and “low entropy” methylation, reports the study.

    min-maxing longevity vs speed and charisma

    • luipugs 1 hour ago
      I dunno, I think he's pretty charismatic. He has all these researchers wanting to spend time with him.
      • scun 1 hour ago
        Sure but biologists will talk to anything. You know what happened to the other tortoises? Bored to death.
  • totetsu 17 minutes ago
    Why was the us space force involved?
    • gumby 13 minutes ago
      He has a pm unusually large volume and has been around an unusually long time and they are the group responsible for anomalies in space-time.
  • calacatta 28 minutes ago
    Every couple Summers

    Me and a couple hunters

    Like to row in from the Isle of

    Astonishing M*erf*ers

  • Ancalagon 2 hours ago
    He doesn't look a day over 90!
    • F3nd0 3 minutes ago
      > He doesn't look a day over 90!

      He still has quite a ways to go to 1485715964481761497309522733620825737885569961284688766942216863704985393094065876545992131370884059645617234469978112000000000000000000000. :-)

  • samudrijan 2 hours ago
    In the Leftovers people think living in Jarden is why they were left. Maybe St Helena is the new Jarden.
  • dyauspitr 2 hours ago
    Interesting so the oldest land animal hasn’t cracked 200 but stuff that lives in the sea can go for five or 600 years or more.
    • epolanski 1 hour ago
      There's sharks out there that are much older than the United States.

      And sponges older than pyramids.

      • loloquwowndueo 30 minutes ago
        Older than the United States hahaha.

        Remember the saying : in the US, 100 years is a long time; in Europe, 100km is a long distance.

  • antonvs 1 hour ago
    > Stephen Clark, an aging researcher

    Shouldn’t they find a younger researcher?

  • verdverm 1 hour ago
    he's so old, he's completely lost the hare /j
  • repeekad 1 hour ago
    > the samples were delivered from Saint Helena to Florida by the U.S. Space Force.

    ...why space force?

    • sublinear 1 hour ago
      It's a remote area and USSF has operations in nearby Ascension Island.
    • fnordpiglet 52 minutes ago
      Because Trump, Musk, et al are hoping to live forever but their lifestyle is not very forgiving - hence all haste.
  • pil0u 2 hours ago
    Can't we just appreciate that exceptionality as it is?

    Somehow, I wish we would leave that creature alone. For once.

    • fnordpiglet 51 minutes ago
      They did opt to swab his mouth rather than draw blood to minimize his discomfort. That seems like a pretty reasonable compromise for the value of learning and science
    • KylerAce 46 minutes ago
      Because a spit swab is so invasive?