Gallery: These Are Some of the Oldest Living Things on Earth

  • Image may contain Plant Moss Field Outdoors Grassland and Algae
    Photos by ©Rachel Sussman / The Oldest Living Things in the World
    01

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    This dense flowering shrub, a relative of parsley, is more than 2,000 years old.
  • Image may contain Plant Tree Conifer Fir and Abies
    Photos by ©Rachel Sussman / The Oldest Living Things in the World
    02

    02-Sussman-spruce-0910-11a07-3x4

    The mass of branches at the bottom of this tree grew that way for about 9,500 years. The spindly trunk in the center shot up in the last 50 years, thanks to a warming climate.
  • Image may contain Plant Tree Tree Trunk Oak Animal Wildlife Mammal and Elephant
    Photos by ©Rachel Sussman / The Oldest Living Things in the World
    03

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    This boabab tree in Kruger Game Preserve in South Africa might be as old as 2,000 years.
  • Image may contain Nature Outdoors Mountain Ice Sea Ocean Water Snow and Mountain Range
    Photos by ©Rachel Sussman / The Oldest Living Things in the World
    04

    04-Sussman-EI-Moss-water-3x4

    A 5,500 year old moss bank on Elephant Island, Antarctica, near the site where the Shackleton expedition was marooned 100 years ago.
  • Image may contain Water Aquatic Plant Outdoors Seaweed and Nature
    Photos by ©Rachel Sussman / The Oldest Living Things in the World
    05

    08-Sussman-seagrass-0910-0753-3x4

    This Mediterranean sea grass is 100,000 years old.
  • Image may contain Plant Tree Tree Trunk Art Painting Animal Invertebrate Arachnid and Spider
    Photos by ©Rachel Sussman / The Oldest Living Things in the World
    06

    09-Bristlecone-0906-3030-3x4

    Bristlecone pines can live more than 5,000 years, making them the oldest unitary organisms in the world.
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