Well our little planet is another year old. It has sucessfullly circumnavigated the sun yet again, which we have celebrated in customary fashion!
What age is the Earth now? Now this actually can depend on your particular beliefs and since I don't have any religious inclinations some of the information in this may be contrary to what you believe. So if you think you may be offended *don't* read on.
The Scientific age of the universe is reckoned to be 4.55 billion years old. However because the Earth started off as a big molten ball before cooling down and becoming solid and due to erosion of the surface scientists haven't been able to prove with abosolute certainty that the Earth is also 4.55 billion years old. They have found rocks however which date back 3.8 - 3.9 billion years old and some of those contain minerals dating 4.1-4.3 billion years old.
Pretty ancient...what about life on Earth?
Fossil colonies of single-celled microscopic organisms dating to 3.5 billion years ago in Australia and South Africa. However some researchers think that micro organisms may have existed as far back as 3.8 billion years ago.
We can't forget the dinosaurs! The oldest dinosaur types are known from rocks in Argentina and Brazil and are about 230 million years old. Unfortunately they became extinct around about 65 million years ago - the exact reason why is still under debate! Though did you know that sharks have existed for over 350 million years? In fact there were some primitive sharks swimming about 400 million years ago however the main types of sharks living today evolved by 100 million years ago.
Of course humans are a whole other kettle of fish and this bit relies on you accepting the theory of evolution (hence my semi disclaimer at the start)! The remains of what is believed to be humanity's earliest known ancestor, which are said to be 6 million years old and discovered in the Middle Awash River Valley of Ethiopia two years ago. The previously oldest 'ancestor' remains were found in Aramis, Ethiopia, and were dated to be 4.5 million years old. However humans more as we are like to day only appeared around 30,000 - 40,000 years ago. Evidence of this includes ancient paintings in over 200 caves and rock shelters worldwide. The oldest and most famous are found in Europe, and are dated between 10,000 and 37,000 years ago.
Now some random information:
In 2000 the oldest living creature on earth was found inside an ancient underground deposit in Texas. The 250 million year old bacterium was actually locked into a crystal over 500 metres underground. Scientists actually had to revive it, which I think was cheating!
The animal with the longest life span is the giant tortoise, which can live for 200 years!
The oldest person who ever lived was 122, Jeanne Louise Calment who was born in Arles, France on February 21, 1875 and died on Monday August 4, 1997.
The oldest person in the world today is a lady called Kamato Hongo who turned 114 on 20 March 2002 and lives in Japan.
Now don't you feel very young!
Thanks to Ask Jeeves for providing me with various sites to dig up this information!
KittyKat
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