Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Growth rings in the shell count the years, and one specimen ran to 507. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a animals fact?

Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

A clam can outlive a country

Growth rings in the shell count the years, and one specimen ran to 507 The ocean quahog builds a line in its shell each year, read like tree rings. A specimen collected off Iceland in 2006 became the oldest known animal with a hard skeleton. The analysis of such animals also gives climate records. It sits in Mondo's animals collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Britannica

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

More facts like this

An adult mayfly may live only a daySome species have no working mouthparts as adults Greenland sharks live for centuriesRadiocarbon dating of eye tissue suggests ages beyond 270 years A clam dredged off Iceland was about 507 years oldThe ocean quahog was nicknamed Ming after the Chinese dynasty it outlived The longest lightning flash stretched 768 kilometresA single flash across the southern United States set the record in 2020 Ashrita Furman holds the most world recordsThe New York born breaker has set over 600 Guinness records since 1979 Yiannis Kouros ran 303 kilometres in 24 hoursThe Greek runner covered 303.5 kilometres in a single day in 1997

Tags: clams, lifespan, records

A clam can outlive a country: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Growth rings in the shell count the years, and one specimen ran to 507. The figure is taken from Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a animals fact?: Yes. It sits on the Animals shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.