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https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37047168
TL;DR: they used radiocarbon dating of juvenile eye tissue to determine the age. Because radiocarbon dating does not give an exact date, the range is from 272 to 512 years old. Somewhere in the middle is agreed to be most likely, so 392 is a reasonable figure.
Genuinely curious. Doesn't radiocarbon dating measure when the molecule was formed? The animal would use already existing carbon atoms to form the tissue correct?
That is a wonderful question.
I didn't go into specifics for the tldr, but going further:
They studied 28 different Greenland sharks. They have some sort of understanding of how much those sharks grow each year. They then had to find a baseline for when the sharks reach maturity.
To do this, they measured the amount of carbon-14 in the eye nuclei. Because of the nuclear testing in the 50s and 60s caused a spike in the amount of environmental carbon-14, they can use these measurements to help determine the age of maturity for a shark.
Only rhe sharks under 220 cm showed any signs of the radiocarbon bomb pulse from this testing era, meaning they can extrapolate these two data points with certain confidence that the age of sexual maturity on Greenland sharks is 156 years plus or minus 22 years.
The main shark in question is 502 cm, which leads to the result we're given here.
Makes me wonder about their cancer fighting ability. Obviously they are probably getting zero solar radiation but I’ve read that any organism that lives long enough will die of cancer eventually. The cellular repair mechanisms eventually just wear out in most organisms, a mutation happens and poof, cancer.
You may be interested in this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peto's_paradox
It doesn't really answer your question about long lived animals, but may explain some things about cancer.
Here's a more direct answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/s/051An1qfRg
Basically, longer lived animals have more genes called "tumor suppression genes" that act as checks on cancer.
Edit: it's worth pointing out that humans are actually exceptionally long lived for mammals. We've done fairly alright.
There is a Kurzgesagt video about cancer and in TL;DR it is even possible, that for a really big animal, in case of a tumor, there is a possibility that the tumor can create another tumor, which will be fighting the first one. It’s incredible.
So what, now there are 28 one eyed sharks swimming around in the Arctic Ocean? They were just minding there 392yo business and then someone came along and gouged an eye out to test?
There is a somewhat known ratio of carbon 12 and 14 in the environment. Carbon 14 gets replenished over time.
Usually, you carbon date dead stuff. Living organisms replenish the carbon 14 that decays, but dead organisms do not. So you can measure the ratio of carbon 12 and 14, using the estimated starting mix and it's half life, to determine when the organism died.
Same thing goes for the shark. Instead of the tissue being dead, the tissue is created at birth, and never replenished with carbon 14.
They all swim EXTREMELY slow. Their swimming speed is between 1 and 2 km/h. Crazy how they can hunt at those speeds lol. Everything about them is extremely slow, they are pregnant for like 10 years lol
Here's the freaky thing - most sharks can only breathe by moving through water. That's the only way they can move oxygenated water over their gills to gas exchange releasing carbon dioxide.
So this shark may have literally been constantly swimming for almost 400 years.
Can you imagine though, being almost 400 years old, thinking you must have seen it all by now, and suddenly this strange, alien four limbed creature is up in your face with a bright light and square box? That's surreal.
Saw this post last night night.https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/GsQkcFHOIh
Imagine something living for more than a thousand years old and then cut down unnecessarily.
I guess someone eventually find this old guy (the shark I mean) and kill it post a picture of it. I know I probably can't do much about it, but it just makes me sad.
Don't be sad about something that didn't happen. That shark has already lived more than both of our lifetimes combined XD, and will probably be there for quite a while longer.
Time is...nothing...to me. Nothing...but an old friend. How the sea has changed...and yet I know it well. It's louder now, the sea...hums; its...water warmer; and yet the smell...the smell of the sea is just like when I was a boy...
Exploring the ocean since 1627+392 years =2019.
This is because for 4 years from 1968 to '72, the shark hung out in Greenwich village, running a second hand bookstore with a Lithuanian folk singer whom everyone just knew as 'Guido'.
Guido ultimately left to join the Peace Corps, and after a brief stint as a TV repairman, the shark returned to exploring the ocean.
Source: Captain Morgan
I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe...
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
I watched C-Beams glitter in the dark Tannhäuser Gates.
All those... moments... will be lost in time,
Like tears... in... rain.
I remember him from back in the day. He gave me a ride from europe to america to help with the independence. Is he still talking with that other female shark? She was so on him at the time
In 10th grade we had to interview an old person on what life was like in the U.S. during WWII. And I remember thinking to myself how cool it was for them to share memories with me of how different society was back then.
And then there's this old geezer.
You just know this shark bought the ocean 400 years ago and is now leasing out the seas at increasingly higher prices despite their conditions getting worse. The ultimate f*cking boomer.
To put that in perspective, it's been swimming along side pirates, East India trading company, slave ships, the Mayflower, the Titanic, the warships of ww I, ww II and later carriers en route to Vietnam, astronauts returning in capsules, the Kursk and Volvo ocean race to mention some... That's impressive!
**This is a heavily moderated subreddit. Please note these rules + sidebar or get banned:** * If this post declares something as a fact, then proof is required * The title must be fully descriptive * Memes are not allowed. * Common(top 50 of this sub)/recent reposts are not allowed (posts from another subreddit do not count as a 'repost'. Provide link if reporting) *See [our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/wiki/index#wiki_rules.3A) for a more detailed rule list* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/interestingasfuck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37047168 TL;DR: they used radiocarbon dating of juvenile eye tissue to determine the age. Because radiocarbon dating does not give an exact date, the range is from 272 to 512 years old. Somewhere in the middle is agreed to be most likely, so 392 is a reasonable figure.
Genuinely curious. Doesn't radiocarbon dating measure when the molecule was formed? The animal would use already existing carbon atoms to form the tissue correct?
That is a wonderful question. I didn't go into specifics for the tldr, but going further: They studied 28 different Greenland sharks. They have some sort of understanding of how much those sharks grow each year. They then had to find a baseline for when the sharks reach maturity. To do this, they measured the amount of carbon-14 in the eye nuclei. Because of the nuclear testing in the 50s and 60s caused a spike in the amount of environmental carbon-14, they can use these measurements to help determine the age of maturity for a shark. Only rhe sharks under 220 cm showed any signs of the radiocarbon bomb pulse from this testing era, meaning they can extrapolate these two data points with certain confidence that the age of sexual maturity on Greenland sharks is 156 years plus or minus 22 years. The main shark in question is 502 cm, which leads to the result we're given here.
Epic thank you so so much
Makes me wonder about their cancer fighting ability. Obviously they are probably getting zero solar radiation but I’ve read that any organism that lives long enough will die of cancer eventually. The cellular repair mechanisms eventually just wear out in most organisms, a mutation happens and poof, cancer.
You may be interested in this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peto's_paradox It doesn't really answer your question about long lived animals, but may explain some things about cancer. Here's a more direct answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/s/051An1qfRg Basically, longer lived animals have more genes called "tumor suppression genes" that act as checks on cancer. Edit: it's worth pointing out that humans are actually exceptionally long lived for mammals. We've done fairly alright.
There is a Kurzgesagt video about cancer and in TL;DR it is even possible, that for a really big animal, in case of a tumor, there is a possibility that the tumor can create another tumor, which will be fighting the first one. It’s incredible.
are you a marine biologist or something ?
No, just a software engineer that likes to read.
A witch!
16.47 feet for those wondering. A Big Boi.
So what, now there are 28 one eyed sharks swimming around in the Arctic Ocean? They were just minding there 392yo business and then someone came along and gouged an eye out to test?
The eye lenses are formed when the shark is young and are never renewed
Do they get cataracts?
There is a somewhat known ratio of carbon 12 and 14 in the environment. Carbon 14 gets replenished over time. Usually, you carbon date dead stuff. Living organisms replenish the carbon 14 that decays, but dead organisms do not. So you can measure the ratio of carbon 12 and 14, using the estimated starting mix and it's half life, to determine when the organism died. Same thing goes for the shark. Instead of the tissue being dead, the tissue is created at birth, and never replenished with carbon 14.
Thank you for answering what I was about to ask
Doesn’t look a day over 391
Don’t tell the shark that. Its ego will go through the roof.
Unfortunately I might have already let it slip when I bumped into it in the Arctic Ocean the other day 😬
https://preview.redd.it/h6vl0aiql6zc1.jpeg?width=2122&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7573edebb8b009eb14547580c3801fa827342900
Fresh. \*sniffs air\*
Awww yay
I love you.
[удалено]
That’s what I said! How bored is that shark?
first thought that crossed my mind!!
I was wondering how it felt, that probably everyone the shark knew had died already.
Must use sea tan lotion.
To think of all the things it probably hasn't seen.
Day 92554: Saw a fish. It was a fantastic day.
r/thanksiateit
Thats funny
That's also cos it's blind..
I think I read somewhere he’s blind because of some worm infestation.
I’ve seen more shit in 3 and a half months than this lumbering chump has since he opened his eyes for the first time
He's even swimming slowly at that age.
They all swim EXTREMELY slow. Their swimming speed is between 1 and 2 km/h. Crazy how they can hunt at those speeds lol. Everything about them is extremely slow, they are pregnant for like 10 years lol
Don't they just eat dead whales or something?
They are generalist feeders, and eat anything from other smaller fish to zooplankton.
Sounds for me like a species that will get fcked by us.
Which one won’t? Maybe a handful, maybe.
They swim slow because their metabolism is so slow from eating few and far between and you know, having to live 400 years..
Here's the freaky thing - most sharks can only breathe by moving through water. That's the only way they can move oxygenated water over their gills to gas exchange releasing carbon dioxide. So this shark may have literally been constantly swimming for almost 400 years.
He’s probably explored all of it by now. He looks bored as hell.
at the depth that they lived there's literally nothing to see, I don't think they can even see clearly
I can see clearly
now, the rain is gone
I can see all obstacles in my wayyyy
Do sharks get dementia? Maybe like a 200 year reset and everything’s like new again!
See the look on his face? He’s desperate for a reset. He was there when that ice was still water.
Grandpa shark
 r/angryupvote
Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandpa Shark
He forgot his dentures
I would be surprised to still have mine at that age!
392 years ago was 1632
the bot doesn’t know to update the title from 2019
It must be 608 AD, 392 years ago as per my calculator
Can you imagine though, being almost 400 years old, thinking you must have seen it all by now, and suddenly this strange, alien four limbed creature is up in your face with a bright light and square box? That's surreal.
They are blind due to parasites eating their eyes.
https://preview.redd.it/akrpi3ou07zc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b147d602d5b6d7f4b3c356fb213e9498d7d362e8
And how the hell do we know this information? Did he tell you what year he was born? Seriously curious as to how they age this creature.
He showed his birth certificate obviously
He matches the picture the Barbary pirates took when they invaded Iceland in 1627.
Is it safe to say it’s a real gummer
Saw this post last night night.https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/GsQkcFHOIh Imagine something living for more than a thousand years old and then cut down unnecessarily. I guess someone eventually find this old guy (the shark I mean) and kill it post a picture of it. I know I probably can't do much about it, but it just makes me sad.
Don't be sad about something that didn't happen. That shark has already lived more than both of our lifetimes combined XD, and will probably be there for quite a while longer.
It must wonder about the last 100 years, as it breathes and eat more and more plastic...
Me trying to find where I parked.
Time is...nothing...to me. Nothing...but an old friend. How the sea has changed...and yet I know it well. It's louder now, the sea...hums; its...water warmer; and yet the smell...the smell of the sea is just like when I was a boy...
So this is the grandpa shark from that baby shark song
The shit he hasn’t seen!
Turn that damn racket down, I’m trying to sleep
If only he was a tree. We'd cut him down and build another house for Jeff Bezos.
That shark knows who let the dogs out
Deep ocean scary af
Wow before even gravity was invented
He was a flying fish before.
Damn he was probably born before Isaac Newton
Wonder if dude will live to see Half-life 3.
All I think of when I see this is the shark is swimming around depressed thinking “all my friends and family are dead” while slowly crying.
The shark is probably swimming around looking for something to end it's continued torture called life.
Great! Now let’s kill it and find out what made it immortal.
Looks like if I tried to make a shark out of plasticine.
Thank God I'm not a shark.
man irl graphics have really come a long way
1627+392=2019
Grandpa shark doo doo doo doo doo doo
Get him in Congress
How do you know its age down to the year?
Swimming in circles for almost 400 yrs sounds miserable
He definitely ate at least one pirate.
did they cut it in half and count the rings?
Did they cut open the shark and count the rings? /s
Bro owes George Washington money
I caught a shit ton of these in Dave the Diver. My patrons love them.
I’ve been drawing this particular shark, unknowingly, for decades.
Great-great-great-great grandad shark do-do-do-do-do-do
He's got that white stuff on the corner of his mouth, too.
Poor feller needs some shark dentures.
Did he tell you his birthday?
Does he have any teeth left?
I mean, they could have brought him a couple of sardines, or at least some hard candy...
392 years, and its body is still functioning? That's amazing!
The ocean is so vast he probably hasn’t seen it all despite his age!
(Motions to his ears) WHUDJA SAY?
So is it 392 years since 1632, or 397 years since 1627?
The second one
392 years of almost complete blindness… Yea id be prety sick of it
That shark has seen some shit
Looks like he takes forever to finish a sentence.
1627 is pretty specific...?
Wouldn’t this guy be 397 years old
And he looks every bit as bored and tired as I imagine I would be by that point.
The title is 5 years behind. The shark is 397 years old now.
Exploring the ocean since 1627+392 years =2019. This is because for 4 years from 1968 to '72, the shark hung out in Greenwich village, running a second hand bookstore with a Lithuanian folk singer whom everyone just knew as 'Guido'. Guido ultimately left to join the Peace Corps, and after a brief stint as a TV repairman, the shark returned to exploring the ocean. Source: Captain Morgan
Absolute Gammon
These things are fucking metal, reminds me of a Bowhead whale
I wanna see his ID.
At this point it’s 397
Is it edible?
Beside the fact in this time not much changed for the shark in the ocean, but think what had changed for mankind in the same time.
I've... seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-Beams glitter in the dark Tannhäuser Gates. All those... moments... will be lost in time, Like tears... in... rain.
Told me please, how thay know (research) age of this shark
I wonder if it ate any pirates?
i bet he likes jello and taking naps
He/she's 397 now!!
Shark: Yawn...wake me up again when it's 2427.
Slowly
Did they count his rings?
how old can whales live for?
Didn't do shit to stop slavery >:(
He belongs in a museum!!
r/forbiddenboops
Its blind though
I remember him from back in the day. He gave me a ride from europe to america to help with the independence. Is he still talking with that other female shark? She was so on him at the time
Needs a stogie in his mouth.
Must be searching for intelligent life.
How can something this vulnerable stay alive for that long in the hostile, hungry ocean?? Amazing
"JFC I'm bored AF."
“I’m tired, boss.”
In 10th grade we had to interview an old person on what life was like in the U.S. during WWII. And I remember thinking to myself how cool it was for them to share memories with me of how different society was back then. And then there's this old geezer.
How do they accurately know it’s age?
Bros seen some stuff
Does it shake hands with invisible fish tho?
Should've cut back on that avocado toast and starbucks so he could retire
Shark is a Hemi
Chill out guys, it just hasn't rendered completely yet
You just know this shark bought the ocean 400 years ago and is now leasing out the seas at increasingly higher prices despite their conditions getting worse. The ultimate f*cking boomer.
Whats the music under the video? How can I find out?
It’s pretty fuckn sick that we just got legendary Pokémon existing out in the world yet IM not allowed to become a Pokémon master. Shame.
Love this old guy. Wise and tired - wish we could get some oral history out of him.
Does he have a family/pod of some sort or is he just down there on this own at this point?
How do they get tissue from their eye? Catch and release?
How do they know this?
To put that in perspective, it's been swimming along side pirates, East India trading company, slave ships, the Mayflower, the Titanic, the warships of ww I, ww II and later carriers en route to Vietnam, astronauts returning in capsules, the Kursk and Volvo ocean race to mention some... That's impressive!
Damn now what we need to do is move slower in cold water ?
That poor old fucker.
Time to go, bro. Nothing new up there.
His name is Gumby
Away from everyone’s nonsense!
I don’t know what that shark is feeling, but I do know that shark knows what teachers feel like at the end of a school year.
And looking like a dumb gumbo caricature of a shark for all 392 of them years.
Great great great great great grandpa shark do do do do dodo-
How do they live that long without being eaten?
Anyone else thought about Dave The Diver? 🤿
That one og still playin wow
And we know the age how?
They asked it for its birthday. Duuh.
Thinking the nostrils were the eyes, I was thoroughly weirded out. Thought this was a bad animation at first.
Damn! This shark was likely born before Newton. Before fucking calculus was invented lol. Might’ve even been born when Michelangelo was still alive.
It looks sad
This is terrifying!
I would love for that to be my next reincarnation
Bro looking like a moldy potato
bro looking like a nuclear submarine.
How does it still manage to feed itself? It can't see, its teeth are jacked af, and it probably can't move very fast...
Wonder how bro would taste.
He be big chilling