Long Time Growing

Posidonia oceanic

It's all relative, right? So here are a few facts about old age and long lives that might make some of us feel just a bit better about where we stand on our own timeline. from wisegeek.com:

The oldest living thing in the world is thought to be an ancient seagrass known as Posidonia oceanic that was estimated to be approximately 200,000 years old when it was discovered in the Mediterranean Ocean, from Spain to Cyprus in 2012. Scientists believe that the seagrass is able to live so long because it is asexual. It can reproduce on its own and essentially clone itself as needed. Over time, as Posidonia oceanic expands by growing more branches. Each individual patch of the seagrass weighs about 6,000 tons and takes up about 10 miles (16 km) over the Mediterranean Ocean.
The second oldest living thing is the world is a 43,000-year-old Tasmanian shrub, Lomatia tasmanica.

More about the oldest living things on Earth:

• A French woman named Jeanne Calment is considered the person who lived the longest in documented history, and was 122 when she died in 1997.


• An Antarctic sponge is thought to be the oldest living animal at an estimated 10,000 years old.


• The Giant Basin Bristlecone Pine tree is the oldest tree, at over 5,000 years old.