Celebrate the World's Longest-lived Animal! Careers Related to Earth Day
By Lisa Frederiksen Bohannon
Right around the time William Shakespeare was performing his play, “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream,” at Queen Elizabeth I’s Court in Great Britain in 1603, a quahog clam was born. Yes, a 405 year-old quahog clam, was pulled from the freezing Arctic waters off the coast of Iceland last year.
Two things make this discovery especially interesting: 1) it is considered the world’s longest-lived animal (scientists know this by counting the growth rings on its shell, similar to the way an ecologist would count the rings on a tree stump to determine its age), and 2) its age will help scientists understand the environmental changes that have occurred over the past four centuries. The latter is of particular interest to climate research scientists and the clam, itself, is of particular interest to marine biologists. And, while you’re having a discussion about these careers in science, check out PBS’s “Cool Careers in Science,” where you can read from the scientists themselves about what it’s like to be an expert on artificial intelligence (a scientist who designs the minds and behaviors of robots) or an arachnologist (a scientist who specializes in the study of tarantulas!) or any of twelve other out of the ordinary science careers.
But, back to the quahog clam. What better way to celebrate Earth Day 2008 than by celebrating this clam’s 405th birthday! You can read all the details in National Geographic News’ article, “405-Year-old Calm Called Longest-Lived Animal.”
Earth Day 2008 will be celebrated on April 22. Earth Day Network reports than more than 1 billion people will join the celebrations this year. The first Earth Day took place in 1970 and “brought more than 20 million people out into the streets to protest against environmental destruction,” says to the Network. Check out their lesson plans for K-12 for ideas you may wish to use as part of your classroom celebration. [Note: you’ll have to join their Educators’ Network, but the materials seem well-worth the effort.]
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