Richard W
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
Wow.
They say they're going to use carbon dating to find out how old it really was, but that's not going to work - you can only get the time since something died from that. Unless there's part of the shell that never wears away and never gets renewed, or something.
The name "Clive of India" always makes me chuckle inwardly. He sounds like Lawrence of Arabia's geeky younger brother...
Posts: 8725 | From: Ipswich - the UK's 9th Best Place to Sleep! | Registered: Feb 2000
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Wow, just wow! According to the above link, Galapogos tortoises live a normal lifespan of 250 years. I knew they generally lived beyond 100 but, damn! 200+ years is quite a lifespan.
-------------------- Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction - Antoine de Saint-Exupery Posts: 1961 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2004
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-------------------- "Fate is like a strange, unpopular resturant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never ask for and don't always like."-Lemony Snicket Posts: 1119 | From: Bronx, NY | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote: He added that the zoo will use a scientific method known as carbon-dating to determine his real age.
I thought carbon-dating could only tell you how long since an animal died, not how old it was at time of death.
Later - replying to my own post. It was on the news this evening, the carbon dating will be done on the shell.
-------------------- I like free speech. It lets me know who the idiots are. Posts: 407 | From: Ireland | Registered: Jul 2005
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Richard W
Ding Dong! Merrily on High Definition TV
posted
Even so, the shell surely grows or is renewed during the tortoise's life? I guess the top wears away and it grows from underneath, but even if that's a very slow process the top of the shell won't be as old as the tortoise.
It might give you the approximate date that it reached full size, which would let you work out its total age.
Posts: 8725 | From: Ipswich - the UK's 9th Best Place to Sleep! | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Is the tortoise shell not "dead" in the same way as hair is "dead"?
However, the article says that although there is a method equivalent to tree-ring analysis for providing a rough guess at a tortoise's age, it is inaccurate because the tortoise's shell wears away. I would have thought that the same problem would attach to finding a suitable bit of shell for carbon-dating. Wouldn't you need a bit of the tortoise that had been un-renewed since it hatched?
-------------------- I want you to lay down your life, Perkins. We need a futile gesture at this stage. It will raise the whole tone of the war. Posts: 4495 | From: Surrey, UK | Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
OK, it was my bright idea to pursuade Boy-O to get reptiles as pets. I figured I'd get really sick of the dead rodent heartbreak every few years.
A Russian Tortoise, Corn snake, boa and savannah monitor later...I suppose by the time these guys pass to the great heat lamp in the sky we'll be about sick of having them around, anyway
Dog--pets that not only outlive your hamster, but will eat its remains--water
-------------------- As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly. Posts: 1679 | From: Illinois | Registered: Jul 2004
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