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Name: Michael
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Question:
What is the oldest living organism?


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http://www.nyu.edu/projects/julian/treetalk.html

Some would argue that the Stromatilites (cyanobacteria) may indeed be the oldest living species. Billions of years old.

Steve Sample

I have not seen any recent information, but the last I heard was bristlecone pines in the Sierra Nevada mountains, some of which are, if I remember correctly, around 7,000 years old. It depends on how you define organism, some people believe that there are fungi that keep growing from the same mycelium that may be very old, but I don't know if that has been tested; other plants that spread by root stocks may also have lived in a sense for many years.

J. Elliott


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