Scientists say this tiny creature survived 24,000 years in a frozen state

Scientists are hailing the discovery of tiny animals that were able to be revived and even reproduced after being in a frozen state for some 24,000 years.

Researcher say microscopic multicellular animals known as bdelloid rotifers survived after 24,000 in frozen state.

Previous studies have shown the microscopic multicellular animals known as bdelloid rotifers are highly resilient organisms that can survive up to ten years in extremely low temperatures.

Now scientists in Russia have found just how resilient rotifers are, after recovering the creatures in permafrost from northeastern Siberia and then reviving the organism in a laboratory. Using radiocarbon-dating, it was determined that the rotifers were about 24,000 years old.

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"This constitutes the longest reported case of rotifer survival in a frozen state," researchers said in the study published in the journal Current Biology. "Our discovery is of interest not only for evolutionary biology but also for practical purposes of cryobiology and biotechnology." 

Lateral view of arctic rotifer, which scientists said survived after 24,00 years in a frozen state. 

Scientists followed the process of slow freezing and thawing in the recovery of the ancient rotifer and found that the animals have "effective biochemical mechanisms" to shield their cells and organs from damaging ice crystals, allowing for survival at low temperatures.

Researchers also found that once thawed, the rotifers underwent asexual reproduction through a clonal process known as parthenogenesis. 

"Our report is the hardest proof as of today that multicellular animals could withstand tens of thousands of years in cryptobiosis, the state of almost completely arrested metabolism," said Stas Malavin of the Soil Cryology Laboratory at the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science in Pushchino, Russia.

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Researchers noted that while the findings were a major breakthrough, it's highly unlikely that more complex and larger life forms could survive in similar conditions.

"The takeaway is that a multicellular organism can be frozen and stored as such for thousands of years and then return back to life--a dream of many fiction writers," Malavin said. "Of course, the more complex the organism, the trickier it is to preserve it alive frozen and, for mammals, it's not currently possible. Yet, moving from a single-celled organism to an organism with a gut and brain, though microscopic, is a big step forward."