Bdelloid rotifer comes to life after staying frozen for 24000 years

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Bdelloid rotifer (AFP Photo / Michael Plewka / Handout)
Bdelloid rotifer (AFP Photo / Michael Plewka / Handout)

New Delhi : A Bdelloid rotifer came back to life even after staying frozen for more than 24,000 kilometers in Siberia. It was once believed to be a fossil. 

Bdelloidea is a class of Rotifer animals including freshwater animals that are cosmopolitan in nature.

The rotifer has become a subject of keen interest for the scientist as it is rare for a multicellular organism to return to life after staying frozen for more than 24,000 years.

It has been learned that the micro-organism was reproducing asexually after being preserved in the permafrost of Siberia for 24000 years.

The Carbon dating reveals the age of bdelloid rotifer specimen between 23,960 and 24,485 years old.

Scientists say that it is like fiction for a multicellular organism to remain in a frozen state for thousands of years and turn back to life.

But it is important to note that Bdelloids are capable of surviving through the harsh environmental conditions and preserve their lives in the absence of oxygen, food, and water by shutting down their metabolism in a process called 'cryptobiosis'.

This particular case has given a new dimension to the scientific studies on multicellular organisms.