A microscopic organism has wriggled back to life and reproduced asexually after lying frozen in the vast permafrost lands of northeastern Siberia for

Tiny creature comes back to life after 24,000 years in Siberian deep freeze

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2021-06-11 06:30:02

A microscopic organism has wriggled back to life and reproduced asexually after lying frozen in the vast permafrost lands of northeastern Siberia for 24,000 years.

Russian scientists found the tiny, ancient animal called the bdelloid rotifer in soil taken from the river Alazeya in Russia's region of Yakutia in the far north.

The bdelloid rotifer, a multicellular organism found in freshwater habitats across the world, is known to be able to withstand extreme cold.

An aerial view shows thermokarst lakes outside the town of Chersky in northeast Siberia August 28, 2007. Picture taken August 28, 2007. REUTERS/Dmitry Solovyov

This new case, which was detailed in a study in the journal Current Biology, is by far the creature's longest recorded survival period in a frozen state.

The organism was recovered from samples taken 3.5 metres below ground. The material was dated from between 23,960 and 24,485 years ago, the study said.