Beyond Mortality: 15 Remarkable Animals That Defy Death and Continue Living

 

Beyond Mortality: 15 Remarkable Animals That Defy Death and Continue Living

 

This rare species of frog is able to die for several weeks before coming back to life. There are several other animals like this. Today, we're taking a look at 15 animals that can live after death.

 

Number 15: Lobster

Found in all oceans of the world, where they tend to hide within rocky crevices to wait for food to swim past. Lobsters are a type of large marine crustacean that we're probably most familiar with being on our dinner plate. But those that aren't caught by fishermen have surprisingly long lives. It's all to do with their DNA. 

The cells of all animals are constantly being replaced, and the DNA controls this process. But as we get older, it begins to deteriorate, and this is one of the reasons why we age. This doesn't happen with lobsters, though, due to the presence of a chemical called telomerase. Their chromosomes are continuously repaired throughout their lives, and this means they can live far longer than we do, essentially avoiding death altogether by reversing the aging process. 

Telomerase is actually present in other animals too, including ourselves. We only produce it during the embryonic stage, and after that, it's not present in sufficient quantities to work in the same way.

 

Number 14: Frogs

Various different species of animals have developed ways to survive the environments that they live in. There's one type of wood frog known as the Rana sylvatica that can virtually die for several weeks before coming back to life. They, of course, live in and around ponds and regions of water. 

But when winter comes, these places are prone to freezing. Frogs can't stay underneath the layer of ice like fish do because they still need to breathe. But in the case of the Rana sylvatica, all the water in their bodies begins to freeze. 

Too soon, they become a frozen frog-sickle with more than two-thirds of the moisture in their bodies frozen solid, which also causes them to stop breathing and their hearts to stop beating. Amazingly, however, when the water begins to warm up, they thaw out and come back to life once more. 

It's an amazing form of winter hibernation and is possible because of an anti-freeze-like chemical in their bloodstream that ensures they have just enough energy in reserve to be able to re-emerge when the time is right.

 

Number 13: Cockroach

Cockroaches are renowned for their ability to survive some of the most extreme events on earth, with some specimens even being found alive in the ground next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the disaster. 

But apart from withstanding conditions that would kill virtually every other creature on earth, their unique physiology means that even if they're injured in a way that you would think would kill them, they remain very much alive. The reason for this is that they have an open circulatory system and actually breathe through holes within different segments of their bodies. 

This means that even if their heads are completely detached, they still keep moving for several more weeks. Eventually, though, they will die from their injury, not because they're unable to breathe, but because without a mouth, they're able to drink or feed and will succumb to their thirst.

 

Number 12: Turtles

If you watch enough wildlife documentaries, you'll surely have seen the stories of how difficult the life turtles face from the moment they are born. But it turns out that some of them are far more resilient than you might expect. 

Snapping turtles, which are a species native to the coasts around North America, are full of surprises like their powerful bites. But it's their ability to live after death that's most unexpected of all. Even once their heads have been removed, their hearts can continue to beat for hundreds and even thousands of hours. 

And while this sounds strange, there's a good reason for it. In the wild, turtles will spend a long amount of time beneath the surface of the water, and when they are, their bodies don't receive any oxygen or nutrients from the head. It's therefore quite normal for the heart to function independently, which is made possible by the presence of pacemaker cells that take over control when signals aren't being sent from the brain stem. 

Furthermore, they're also able to absorb oxygen through their bodies, which means that you might well see on some occasions a turtle swimming in the water days after its head has been bitten off by a predator.

 

Number 11: Jellyfish

Most jellies that you find in the ocean have a relatively short lifespan and may only be alive for just a few weeks or months to give them the opportunity to breed. There's one, though, called the Turritopsis dohrnii, which, because of their unique life cycles, is often called the immortal jellyfish. 

To understand how this is possible, you first need to know a little bit about the stages of their development. When they're first born from an egg, they enter their larval stage, which is known as the planula. When the time is right, they will attach themselves onto a stable surface and begin turning into a polyp, which looks somewhat like a tube with a mouth at one end and a foot that keeps them held tight onto an object at the other. 

As they grow, they begin to develop a colony of polyps around them, and once this is large enough, they transform into their adult stage, which is the jellyfish. What's unusual, however, is that the Turritopsis dohrnii can reverse this process once they're an adult. If they encounter an extreme problem like a complete lack of food or a serious injury, they can revert back into the polyp stage and start the cycle again. 

It's not known if there's a limit to how often each individual can do this, but in theory, it means that there could be some alive that have been around for many thousands of years.

 

Number 10: Salamander

Salamanders are a species of amphibians that live in regions across the world and are easily identified by their blunt snouts, short limbs, and often vivid colorations. Living in environments that have a large number of predators, they have developed a unique trait that allows them to survive most attacks: the way that they can regenerate virtually any part of their body. 

This happens because of the presence of macrophage immune cells, which arrive at the site of an injury and immediately begin growing a replacement. Whereas in other animals, they would usually just form scar tissue. Incredibly, this process works for completely severed limbs and even for vital organs that have been partially removed, meaning that salamanders are able to overcome injuries that would prove to be fatal for any other animal. 

So effective is this system that researchers have for a long time been investigating whether similar principles can be used in medicine to help people overcome serious injuries too.

 

Number 9: Chickens

Chickens might seem like any other bird, but there have been numerous studies that show that they can live for a long time after their heads have been removed. But all is not quite as it seems. The most famous example of this was Mike the Chicken, a Wyandotte chicken that had been decapitated by a farmer in 1945 for dinner one night. 

The chicken had other ideas, though, and continued to run around the farm for the next 18 months, seemingly unaware that it was missing such a vital organ. This wasn't a one-off, and similar events are commonly reported. But rather than having a death-defying ability, this happens because of the physiological structure of the birds. 

In reality, only the back part of their heads contains their brains, and most of the signals that are sent to their bodies for everyday functions originate in their brainstems. It is, therefore, possible to remove their heads but leave enough of their brainstem intact to function normally. And as long as you don't sever a critical artery, they can continue to live for a surprisingly long time. 

Of course, without a mouth, they're unable to eat and would normally die of thirst or starvation within a matter of days. But in Mike's case, the farmer decided to care for him and fed him a mixture of milk and water with an eyedropper that he used to put droplets at the top of the chicken's throat.

 

Number 8: Ocean Quahog

Ocean quahogs are a species of clam that's native to the northern Atlantic Ocean and are a popular delicacy in most of the countries that they live. Those that aren't caught and cooked, however, have an uncanny ability to live for much longer than you would normally expect. 

In 2006, scientists in Iceland were surveying the creatures and killed one that was later named Ming as a part of their study. They realized they had made a mistake when they looked inside, though because they found out that Ming was at least 507 years old. But how could a clam live for so long? 

The answer is thought to be due to the animal's cell structure. Usually, the molecules that contain oxygen in an animal's body actually react with cell membranes and produce molecules that damage other parts of the cell. But in ocean quahogs, the cell membranes appear to be impervious to this effect, which means that their cells hardly age or deteriorate at all and allows them to reach ages far beyond most other creatures.

 

Number 7: Squid

Squids are a type of cephalopod found in most oceans around the world, and just like other creatures that are closely related to them, only some of their movements and behaviors are controlled by their brains. Their tentacles are actually so complex that they contain neurons of their own, which means that they function independently of the rest of the animal. 

And this can lead to some very peculiar effects. The most famous is a delicacy that's popular in Japan known as the dancing squid. A bowl is served, usually containing soup or rice, and on top of it is a fresh squid that has had its head removed. It sits there motionless, but then you pour soy sauce over it. 

The salt in the liquid stimulates the neurons in the tentacles, and the entire body comes back to life and begins to seemingly dance across the dish. Of course, the squid isn't coming back to life, and this is just a chemical reaction that's taking place, but it's a bizarre sight to see, and it's no wonder that the novelty value means it's a highly sought-after meal.

 

Number 6: Bees

Bees are one of the most important insects in the world, responsible for pollinating some of the most commonly grown crops that we rely upon. But we all know that if you get too close or make one think you're going to damage the hive, they won't think twice about stinging you and injecting you with venom. 

Due to the way their stingers are attached to them, this process causes extreme damage to their internal organs and causes the bee to die. Did you know, though, if a bee dies from other causes, they're still able to inflict pain with their stingers? This is because the bodies of insects are far more decentralized than our own, and even if they lose their heads, plenty of other functions still work as if they were alive. 

The stinger, for example, automatically injects venom when it's pressed up against something, so if you make contact with one even after the bee is long dead, then it will still hurt just as bad as if it had been alive. The lesson here is that if you ever see a bee on the floor, you should approach it with caution.

 

Number 5: Worms

We've all heard the claims that if you cut a worm in half, then it'll turn into two separate worms, but this isn't exactly true. Sometimes parts of their bodies can recover, but it won't result in two different individuals, and it's actually quite a cruel thing to do to them. 

There is one species that's the exception to the rule, however, and that's the planaria, which is a type of flatworm. You can actually cut them into several pieces, and each one will grow back into a whole. And while this has been known for a long time, it was only recently that researchers found the process behind it. 

There are some cells in their bodies which are distributed throughout and contain a specific gene called TSPAN1. If another cell without this gene is destroyed for whatever reason, one of these special cells will immediately go to the site and replace it. 

In experiments, it's been shown that not only does this occur in response to losing parts of their bodies, but also to replace internal cells that have been damaged in other ways, such as by exposure to radiation. Since this discovery, it's a species that's being intensively researched to try to isolate the cells and see if it's possible to use them in treatment therapies for people.

 

Number 4: Snake

There are more than 3,600 species of snakes in the world, 600 of which are venomous enough to pose a threat to humans. So it's no surprise that in regions where they live, people take whatever steps they can to prevent them from biting anyone. There are plenty of people who simply catch the serpents and release them far away from where anyone lives. 

But the alternative is to kill them on the spot by cutting off their heads. While this might seem like it immediately prevents the snakefrom biting you, you might be surprised to learn that snakeheads can actually keep biting for several hours later. 

In 2014, it was reported that a chef in China died after severing the head of a cobra while preparing cobra soup and was bitten by it. There are often a number of similar cases every year. The reason this happens is that a venomous snake's bite is often a reflex reaction to protect themselves from danger, one that isn't necessarily consciously controlled. 

Cold-blooded animals can retain their reflexes for several hours after death, and this is just another example of this. Their bodies too can still rise up from the ground in a menacing stance even without a head and have been seen striking toward people despite having nothing to attack them with.

Number three: Flies

Flies are some of the most annoying insects that we ever encounter. Whether it's from following us around outside to buzzing around our homes, it seems they enjoy bugging us so much that they've even developed ways to overcome death. This would explain why, no matter how often you try to swat one with a newspaper, they always seem to escape.

 

The first method is their ability to endure freezing cold conditions. When the temperature drops too low, they enter a state similar to hibernation but are able to come back to life as soon as it's warmed up. This is actually a technique magicians use to make it appear as if they're bringing a dead fly back to life. It's also an important way for the insects to survive in the wild.

 

Even stranger, though, is what happens if a female fly loses her head. She will stay alive for several days and even start behaving more coherently. They can continue to fly and walk on surfaces, correct their position even if they're upside down, and can still track down food sources.

 

Number two: Hydra

If you have an aquarium, you may well be familiar with hydras. They are very similar to the polyp stage of a jellyfish and are essentially tube-like creatures that have a mouth at one end and an appendage at the other, which is used to hold onto objects. They live in freshwater rivers and ponds, using their tentacles to catch any small prey that swims past.

 

What's unique about these creatures is that they don't actually seem to age at all. Instead, they have stem cells that continuously regenerate. This is thought to happen because of the presence of FOXO genes that regulate the lifespan of cells but are in such high quantities in a hydra that they allow the cells to repair themselves as much as they need.

 

Number one: Tardigrade

While tardigrades don't technically continue living after they've died, they're such incredibly resilient creatures that they instead continue living well beyond the stage when they should have died. Also known as water bears, they are microscopic creatures that have been found in just about every environment you can think of on Earth. They can survive in the most hostile of conditions, such as under extreme pressures and temperatures, and even the vacuum of space.

 

Usually growing to less than two hundredths of an inch long, they have various different forms that are better suited to specific conditions, but they all share the ability to surround themselves in a protective husk that can protect them from virtually anything. Even more impressive is the way they can stay in this state of stasis for decades before emerging again, meaning that when our planet is finally destroyed by a meteor or by the death of the sun, it's likely that tardigradeswill be the only things left.

 

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