Oldest Living Things in the World (Pictures)

Rachel Sussman shows photographs of the world’s oldest continuously living organisms — from 2,000-year-old brain coral off Tobago’s coast to an “underground forest” in South Africa that has lived since before the dawn of agriculture.

This is an amazing project from Rachel Sussman. See the pictures below of the oldest living things in the world.

La Llareta (Up to 3,000 years old; Atacama Desert, Chile) – The extraordinary 3,000-year-old relative of parsley that looks like moss but is a shrub grows in the Atacama desert in the high Andes at an altitude of 15,000ft. Measuring 8-10ft across, it inhabits the surface of smooth, round boulders. It is a dense mass of thousands of tiny branches, each ending in a bud with tiny green leaves, and is so tough you can stand on top of it.


Welwitschia Mirabilis (2,000 years old; Namib Naukluft Desert, Namibia) – Welwitschia mirabilis is the only member in the family Welwitschiaceae and is one of the more bizarre plants on the planet.

Bristlecone Pine (Up to 5,000 years old; White Mountains, CA) – Read other world’s oldest trees here.

Siberian Actinobacteria (400,000 – 600,000 years old; Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen) – This specimen had been gathered from the permafrost and was being kept in Copenhagen, where she photographed it. “The Siberian actinobacteria are half a million years old and live in the permafrost. If the permafrost isn’t permanent, the oldest living things on the planet will die,” she says.

Jomon Sugi, Japanese Cedar (2,180 to 7,000 years old; Yaku Shima, Japan)

Spruce Gran Picea (9,550 years old; Fulufjället, Sweden) – Read other world’s oldest trees here.

Lichen R. Geographicum (≈ 3,000 years old; Alanngorsuaq, Greenland)

Creosote Bush (12,000 years old; Mojave Desert, CA)

Sagole Baobab (2,000 years old; Limpopo Province, South Africa) – Read other world’s oldest trees here.

Pando, Clonal Colony of Quaking Aspens (80,000 years old; Fish Lake, UT)

Underground Forest (13,000 years old; Pretoria, South Africa) – Botanists believe the 13,000-year-old underground forest in Pretoria evolved to survive forest fires. All that is visible are the tips of the branches poking out of the soil. But beneath the ground is a mass of branches and roots.

Brain Coral (2,000 years old; Speyside, Tobago) – This 18ft-wide brain coral off the shore of Speyside on the east coast of Tobago in the Caribbean is 2,000 years old. To take the shot, Sussman had to overcome her fear of open water, take diving lessons and learn how to use her camera underwater.

Mojave Yucca (12,000 + years old; Mojave Desert, California)

Photo credits go to Rachel Sussman. Note: Rachel Sussman is on a quest to celebrate the resilience of life by identifying and photographing continuous-living organisms that are 2,000 years or older, all around the world.

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