Hey, Smarty Pants and Smarty Families.
So today I was supposed to bring you the sad news that this would be the last day of our special Happy Birthday.
50 off Who Smarted Plus subscription.
But guess what?
With Thanksgiving and Black Friday coming up, I just had to extend it another couple of weeks.
So now you have until the end of November to sign up for Who Smarted Plus and get an entire year of smarting included.
That's right.
For just 166 a month, you'll be supporting the show and giving the gift of smarting to the smarty pants in your life, just in time for the holidays.
You can't even get a decent slice of pizza for $1.66.
So what do you say?
Go to our website, whosmarted.com, and click birthday subscribe today.
That's whosmarted.com.
Click birthday subscribe.
This is only available on our website at whosmarted.com.
You and I and all your friends at Whosmarted will be glad you did.
Thanks and happy holidays.
And now it's time for Whosmarted.
Nice work, Millicent.
Swing those arms.
Sway those 94-year-old hips.
Stretch.
And breathe.
And stretch.
And breathe.
Hey, smarty pants.
As you can hear, I volunteered to teach a weekly jazzercise class at the old folks' home in my neighborhood.
That's it, Phyllis.
Bend.
And stretch.
And bend.
And stretch.
You're doing great.
Of course, I can't work them too hard.
They're all pretty elderly.
Even the home's pet turtle, Gretchen, is pretty old.
She's 32.
That may not sound very old for a human, but it is for a turtle.
Oh, that's enough aerobics for me, trusty.
Besides, it's time to feed Gretchen.
Grab me some of those apple slices, will you?
Sure thing, Millicent.
Here you go.
Oh, look at her go.
She's got a good appetite for a mature lady.
Just like me.
Uh, no comment.
But I will say turtles live a pretty long time.
Don't they, Millicent?
Yep.
Especially compared to some other animals, like cats and dogs.
I'm sure you know some tortoises can live to be over 100 years old.
Whoa.
Whoa is right.
They must be the longest living animals on the planet, right?
Wrong.
Oh.
Really?
Really.
In fact, there's quite a few other animals that can live much longer.
Did you know that, Smarty Pants?
Hmm.
I wonder what the longest living animals are.
And how long can they live?
And how are they able to do so?
And what's the oldest animal in the world?
Great questions.
And what a handy coincidence for you that I just so happen to be a retired marine biologist.
That is a handy coincidence.
Maybe I should call you Dr. Millicent.
Maybe you should.
Come on, let's go.
We can hop in my secret submarine and learn more about the world's oldest animals.
I'm sorry, did you say secret submarine?
Yeah, I keep it hidden deep below the old folks' home.
Direct access to the ocean and everything.
But don't say anything.
The staff here thinks I just go down there to do my knitting.
Oh boy, sounds like we're in for an animal-themed adventure as we take a big old whiff of science and history on Who's Smarted.
Who's Smarted?
Who's Smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science?
Or history?
Wow, this submarine is so cool, Dr. Millicent.
Thanks, but I really ought to renew my submarine driver's license, though.
My current one expired in 1994.
What?
Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. meant to do that.
Anywho, um, where are we?
We're just off the coast of Iceland, where the single oldest animal in the world was discovered in 2006.
Oh, wow.
Hey, smarty pants, what animal do you think it was?
Was it A, a whale, B, a shrimp, or C, a clam?
You said C, a clam.
You're right.
More specifically, it was a type of clam called an ocean quahog, and it was 507 years old.
507?
Wow, that makes me feel like a teenager.
I know.
Ming is more than five times older than me, and I'm ancient.
Wait, who's Ming?
That's the clam's name.
When you're a clam that lives to be 507, you definitely deserve a name.
Absolutely.
But wait, do all clams live such a long time?
And if not, how was Ming able to live so long?
Great questions, trustee.
Here's the deal.
There have been clams that have lived for over 100 years.
And there was one that was discovered in 1868 that lived to be 374.
But ocean quahogs do seem to live longer than other types of clams.
And why is that?
Scientists say one of the reasons is because they seem to grow much slower than other clams.
But there's something else that's very interesting.
Their growth only occurs in the summertime.
And ocean quahogs found further south in warmer climates don't live quite as long.
Wait, so being in colder waters makes them grow slower, which in turn makes them live longer?
That's what the evidence points to, yes.
And researchers have noticed the same phenomenon with other sea creatures, too.
For example, sea urchins in California live to be about.
Sea urchins further north on Canada's Pacific Ocean can live to be over 200 years old.
It's believed that cold waters slow down animals' metabolism, allowing them to live much longer.
Huh.
So if I wanted to live longer, should I move somewhere super cold?
No.
Unfortunately, the phenomenon doesn't seem to apply to humans.
Oh, good.
I don't do great in cold weather.
Smarty Pants, true or false?
The way that Ming the Clam's age was discovered was by counting the rings on his shell.
The answer is true.
That's right.
Most clams have annual growth bands on their shell to tell you how old the clam is, just like the rings on a tree trunk tell you how old a tree is.
That's so helpful.
Okay, besides clams, what other long-living animals are there?
And what is considered long anyway?
Ah, the last question is the ticket right here, trusty.
You see, it's all relative.
And to demonstrate my point, we need to look no further than the naked mole rat.
Oh!
Uh, the what?
The naked mole rat.
Okay, I heard it right the first time.
But what's a naked mole rat?
They don't live underwater, do they?
No, but they do live underground.
Luckily, the submarine can also transform into an underground burrowing device.
Let me just remember which button it is.
Heating, cooling, increase propeller speed, decrease propeller speed, self-destruct.
Ah, here we go.
Terrain.
I'll just push that and... Wait, that's definitely terrain and not self-destruct, right?
Only one way to find out.
Ready?
Ready.
All right, that was quick.
Uh, where are we?
Somewhere beneath Kenya, Africa, I suspect.
Wait, look.
Naked mole rat, three o'clock.
Oh, wow.
So ratty.
So moley.
So naked.
Yes, they're funny looking.
Little hairless things, aren't they?
But so cute.
Ah, ah, ah, um...
Remind me why we're here again, trustee.
Oh, my memory isn't what it used to be.
Oh, you were saying long living is relative and that mole rats are a good example.
Yes, of course.
You see, the mole rat can live to be about 30 years old which, compared to me the clam's 507 years seems like nothing.
But...
If you stop to consider that other rodents only live about five years, then those 30 years are suddenly quite long.
I'll say.
So what makes naked mole rats live an average of 25 years longer than other rodents?
Well, the fact that they live underground has a lot to do with it.
Inside the little tunnels they burrow.
They don't have any natural predators, so they've evolved to live long, safe lives, like the clams found in cold waters.
Naked mole rats also benefit from slow metabolisms.
Scientists have also found that many animals that are social or live in colonies tend to have long lives.
Ah, and do naked mole rats live in colonies?
They sure do.
And just like ants or bees, they live in colonies with one queen.
Wow, that's so interesting.
But do you mind if we get out of here?
This underground mole rat tunnel is a little claustrophobic and I don't know if I want to meet the queen naked mole rat.
Who's your thing?
Where to next?
Well, we've learned that Ming the Clam lived a whopping 507 years and that mole rats live way longer than other rodents, but i want to know more about the longest living mammal.
I bet it's humans, isn't it?
And i bet that also means we get to go above ground.
Well, i hate to break it to you, but you're wrong on both counts.
Trusty for the longest living mammal, it's back to the ocean for us, to the magical majesty of the murky blue depths.
I'm confused.
You're telling me the longest living mammal lives way down here?
You betcha.
And look, there's one now.
What is that?
Smarty Pants, can you guess what the longest living mammal is?
The answer is... Coming up right after this quick break and a word from our sponsors...
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Now back to Who Smarted?
Okay, smarty pants, we are about to find out. what the longest living mammal is.
And surprisingly, it's not a human and it doesn't live on land.
Nope.
That's because it's... a bowhead whale.
Ah, smarty pants.
Did you guess that it would be a whale?
Nice job if you did.
So how long can a bowhead whale live?
Bowheads? can live to be over 200 years old.
In fact, some have been found with bits of harpoons lodged in their blubber since the 1800s.
Ouch!
So how is it that they can live so long?
What's their secret?
Just like the ocean quahog clams, the cold Arctic waters seem to slow their metabolism and give them long life.
The same holds true for the world's longest-living vertebrae.
Smartypants, any idea what that is?
Is it the Iceland squid, the Greenland shark, or the Poland pufferfish?
If you said the Greenland shark, you're right.
Greenland sharks can also live hundreds of years thanks to cold water slowing their metabolism or growth.
It's such a weird trade-off.
You get to live a long time.
You're always chilly.
Tell me about it oh, but hey, i don't make the rules all right.
So naked mole rats live long for rats, bowhead whales live long for mammals, and the oldest animal ever was ming the clam.
So i guess we're done here.
Oh no, we must, certainly are not.
Ming may be credited as being the single oldest specimen of its species to be found.
But there's another type of animal that smarty pants might not even realize is an animal that can live to be tens of thousands of years old.
Whoa.
For real?
For real.
And then there might even be an animal that can live forever.
Kind of blowing my mind here, Millicent.
Is she blowing your minds too, Smarty Pants?
Uh-huh.
You're blowing the Smarty Pants' minds too.
Okay, let's start with the one that sounds the least impossible.
What animal that might not seem like an animal can live tens of thousands of years?
Smarty Pants, any guesses?
Here, I'll do it as one of your little quizzes if you don't mind.
For you, go for it.
Is this long-living animal I'm talking about an A, sea star, B, sea horse, or C, sea sponge?
Hmm, that's a tough one.
It is.
If you said C, sea sponges, you're right.
Sea sponges might look like plants, but they're in fact animals, and there's a species of Antarctic sponge that's estimated to be over wait for it 15000 years old.
But, but, but how?
Well, at the risk of sounding like a broken record.
Let me guess, cold temperatures?
That's part of it.
Sponges and corals live very deep in the ocean where it's cold.
So like the ocean quahogs, they grow long and slow.
But they can do something else, too, that helps with their longevity.
True or false, Smarty Pants?
A sea sponge can replace dead or dying or broken parts of themselves.
The answer is true.
That's right.
These sponges are constantly regenerating stem cells.
So when parts of them die off or break, new parts just grow back.
This allows them to continuously renew themselves.
How cool would that be?
Super cool.
And that totally makes sense why they can live so long.
But wait, you said there's a creature that can maybe live forever.
Innocence.
Smarty Pants, any guesses what this potentially immortal creature is?
In fact, I gave you a hint.
Because a word I just said is in its nickname.
I'll give you another hint.
You might use a shortened version of its name on a sandwich with peanut butter.
Okay, got your answer?
Why the longest living creature is... The immortal jellyfish.
Or the Taurotopsis dorni, to be exact.
That's right, Smarty Pants.
The creature that could potentially live forever is a jellyfish.
But is the immortal jellyfish actually immortal?
Well, to answer that, let's first talk about a jellyfish's lifespan.
You see, jellies have several phases in their life cycle.
They start out as a fertilized egg which becomes a larvae.
This stage it has to find a rock or other hard surface to attach itself to.
Once attached, it can develop further, turning into something called a polyp.
That's when it starts developing little tentacles.
After that it can free itself from the hard surface and continue developing as a jellyfish.
Okay, I'm with you so far, But here's where it gets unbelievably crazy.
If the jellyfish gets injured, senses danger or has trouble finding food, instead of dying it just sucks its tentacles back in, shrinks down and turns back into a polyp.
It then starts its life cycle all over again.
Whoa.
Whoa is right.
For the third time today.
It's an extremely rare natural phenomenon called transdifferentiation.
And because of this, the immortal jellyfish wins the longest living animal contest.
Wow.
But you know, as wild and cool as that is, I don't think I'd want to go back to being a baby myself.
What about you, smarty pants?
Yeah, I'm with you on that, trusty.
But you know what I would like to go back to?
What's that, Dr. Millicent?
Jazzercise class.
Oh, you got it.
Let's go, Doc.
Shake out those tentacles.
I mean arms.
And stretch.
And breathe.
And stretch.
And breathe.
A double dose of shout out to Nora and Chris in Haverton, Pennsylvania.
Thanks so much for listening, laughing, and learning along to Who Smarted?
Keep on smarting, you two.
Who Smarted was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Kolber.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
