Tribe.net. Local Connections Pinky http://heateddebate.tribe.net/thread/937f7b14-98e2-473a-838a-62679903ea88#706a9e27-2fb9-49ab-8752-5cc21d76c12d 2009-06-28T13:47:49Z 2009-06-28T13:47:49Z

Dr. D: "there must be some kind of regulating factor..such as being a good source of food for some other animals that feed on them." With as small as they are, I wouldn't doubt it.

Pinky 2009-06-28T13:47:49Z Dr.Diarrhea http://heateddebate.tribe.net/thread/937f7b14-98e2-473a-838a-62679903ea88#1080ec5f-f106-4add-ab21-70eec0307e55 2009-06-28T07:56:37Z 2009-06-28T07:56:37Z

Biological death is usually a necessary part of the resource equation..reproducing organisms die at some point after being able to reproduce, which helps to sustain available food rescources for the rest of the population. Those who drone on about the scientific potential of developing human immortality never ask where all the food will come from to feed a generation that never dies. We cant feed all of us as it is. I find it surprising that these organisms do not die, only because a lack of death is a promise of overpopulation and starvation..there must be some kind of regulating factor..such as being a good source of food for some other animals that feed on them.

Dr.Diarrhea 2009-06-28T07:56:37Z John http://heateddebate.tribe.net/thread/937f7b14-98e2-473a-838a-62679903ea88#8512ede1-a9c4-41d4-993d-79fc75864877 2009-06-28T04:00:26Z 2009-06-28T04:00:26Z

Sponges are also immortal, only they are so heavily preyed upon they never live quite that long.

John 2009-06-28T04:00:26Z Pinky http://heateddebate.tribe.net/thread/937f7b14-98e2-473a-838a-62679903ea88#877627e5-b09c-475b-9a1e-fa8505ded3bb 2009-06-27T22:46:24Z 2009-06-27T22:46:24Z

http://www.zmescience.com/meet-the-worlds-only-immortal-animal Meet the world’s only immortal animal Fri, Dec 5, 2008 Post filled in: Biology, Feature Post, Other If you’re thinking McLeod, you couldn’t be further from the truth. What you have to do is think small; not microscopic, just big enough to see with your naked eye. Turritopsis nutricula is a hydrozoan, and it’s considered by scientists to be the only animal that cheated death. Solitary organisms are (according to current belief) doomed to die, after they completed their life cycle. Hydrozoa are a huge class of predatory animals that live mostly in saltwater, closely related to jellyfish and corals. Eggs and sperm from an adult jellyfish (medusa) and they then develop into polyp stage. Medusae evolve asexually from polyps. Still, our Turritopsis nutricula (could we call it Joe??) managed to find a way to beat that. What these little folks do is they revert completely to a sexually immature, colonial stage after they reach sexual maturity. They’re even cooler than that. When they’re young they’ve got only several tentacles, but at a mature stage, they get to 80-90 of them. They’re able to return to polyp stage due to a cell change in the external screen (Exumbrella), which allows them to bypass death. As far as scientists have been able to find out, this change renders the hydrozoa virtually immortal.

Pinky 2009-06-27T22:46:24Z