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Penguin mummies dating back thousands of years have been discovered in Antarctica.

An ornithologist from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, Steven Emslie, has studied penguins in Antarctica for over 15 years. Over the years, he’s discovered penguin remains from abandoned penguin colonies, tracing clues about climate changes.

In recent years, Emslie says a warming trend has reached deeper into the continent than before. As the ice has melted, it has exposed a penguin colony dating back thousands of years.

In September 2020, he reported the news that he found ancient naturally mummified penguins. Although they looked as though they might be recently deceased, the penguins date back from 800 to 5,000 years ago. 

Despite so many years, the penguin’s feathers remained intact. Flesh remained as if the birds had died recently. Also, stains from the bird’s waste were still apparent on rocks as if no time had passed.

Ancient penguin mummies

Emslie described what he found:

“This particular site is in the Ross Sea in east Antarctica, and it was a very cold dry place compared to other parts of Antarctica so the preservation is even better and there was mummification,” Emslie said.

“What I found at the site were a lot of bones and mummies on the surface. Some of the penguin remains looked pretty fresh, so it seems like there was a mixture of old and fresh remains, and that seems strange to me at this location, which hasn’t had breeding penguins reported there in the history of people going to Antarctica.

So, I started to investigate more, and I realized this was a site that had been exposed just recently by snowmelt that’s occurring there and that these fresh remains were actually ancient but just being re-exposed after being frozen for centuries.”

The Adélie penguins used the nesting grounds for thousands of years. Strewn about the site, countless pebbles are a tell-tale sign. As Adélie penguins nest, they gather pebbles to protect their eggs. 

As recently as 100 years ago, nothing was found at the same location by early explorers. Today, after 800 years, the ancient colony is once again visible.

What happened to the penguin colony?

According to the Times:

“Dr. Emslie speculates in the journal Geology. where he reported his findings in mid-September, that cooling temperatures drove a type of sea ice to form along the coast that persisted well into summer months.

Known as “fast ice” because it “fastens” to the coastline, this sea ice makes it very difficult for penguins to gain access to beaches and prevents them from colonizing places where it occurs.”

Today, sea levels are rising along with temperatures. Fortunately, Adélie penguins alive today are proving adaptable, seeking out new nesting grounds. Now, the scientist believes they will return to their ancestor’s old nesting ground. Finding the wealth of pebbles already in place, they may find the location highly desirable.

“They need pebbles for their nests, so they are going to find all the pebbles that are already on the land at this site very attractive,” he said. “I would not be surprised to see them make this place their home again in the near future,” said Emslie.

Related Read: Scientists discover giant human-sized penguin that once lived in New Zealand

An Adélie penguin ‘Supercolony’

In 2018, scientists revealed the discovery of a huge ‘supercolony’ of Adélie penguins in Antarctica. Studying NASA satellite images, they spotted penguin feces in the remote Danger Islands.

Before the discovery, researchers believed the penguin populations were on the decline. Afterward, they counted over 750K pairs of penguins.

See more about the supercolony from TIME below:

Intruders in Earth’s last  ‘untouched’ wilderness

As Antarctica warms, there is a surge in tourism in one of the wildest remaining places on Earth. Mostly by cruise ships, there could be more than 78,500 visitors this year, up from 56,000 tourists in the two prior years.

As humans begin to arrive more frequently, scientists fear they will disrupt the fragile, relatively untouched environment. Along with the people, insects and plant seeds could arrive. Thus, isolated penguin colonies and other wildlife will have to rapidly adapt to more than climate change alone.

Antarctica has seen incredible changes over millions of years. Some 250 million years ago, the continent may have been covered with forests and rivers. Instead of penguins, early relatives of the dinosaurs called Antarctica home.

Featured image: Adelie Penguins by Christopher Michel  via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

A strange alien-looking creature spreading across the world’s oceans is practically immortal. It’s Turritopsis dohrnii, the “immortal jellyfish” that can avoid death when stressed. In a manner that’s similar to a butterfly reverting to a caterpillar, the jellyfish reverts to its coral-like polyp stage. Then, it goes on to become a jellyfish again, bypassing death altogether.

It wasn’t until the 90s that scientists became aware of how amazing this little creature truly is. However, the tiny creature, also called the Benjamin Button jellyfish, is becoming more widely known. Could the immortal jelly reveal clues about fighting cancer or even unlock the secrets of immortality for humans? 

Well, such an idea isn’t new at all. The concept dates back thousands of years to one of the earliest recorded works of literature, as we’ll see.

A Coral-Like Key to Immortality Adrift in the Oceans?

Today, many scientists are doubtful the key to immortality can be found in the jellyfish. However, one of the world’s preeminent experts believes otherwise. Shin Kubota, from Japan’s Kyoto University, has high hopes.

“Turritopsis application for human beings is the most wonderful dream of mankind,” Kubota told a New York Times journalist. “Once we determine how the jellyfish rejuvenates itself, we should achieve very great things. My opinion is that we will evolve and become immortal ourselves.”

Kubota is one of the world’s only people to have maintained the jellyfish’s captive population for over 15 years. Although they can avoid death under certain stressful conditions, they are generally hard to maintain artificially, requiring daily feedings.

Another expert, Dr. Maria Pia Miglietta from Texas A&M University, studies the jellyfish. She refers to what she’s learned about Turritopsis’ processes as “the Holy Grail of regenerative medicine.” See her discuss this below in the video from Quartz:

Unlocking the Powers of Transdifferentiation 

The immortal jellyfish can transform its cells through transdifferentiation. Thus, the jelly’s muscle cells can turn into nerve cells, sperm, or egg cells. However, transdifferentiation is not unique to the jellyfish and has been induced experimentally in mice.

What’s more, humans have similar abilities throughout the body in stem cells. In time, as more scientists study Turritopsis dohrnii and stem cells, is it possible humans can discover how to bypass the stem cell stage and unlock their transformational abilities? 

Will people one day be able to transform into a more youthful state? It’s possible.

The Secret of Immortality Found in an Ancient Text

Whether humans can attain immortality seems like something from science fiction. However, the idea is ancient, dating back thousands of years before science fiction existed in ancient Babylonian mythology.

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, dating back to at least 5,000 years ago, the King of Uruk, Gilgamesh, learns about a secret to immortality. Interestingly, it sounds just like the immortal jellyfish, slowly spreading across the world today in the ballasts of ships.

Gilgamesh, Utnapishtim, and the Quest for Eternal Life

In the Gilgamesh epic, Gilgamesh goes on a quest for eternal life. In that quest, he consults with the great sage Utnapishtim, the only man to survive a great world flood. 

Along with his wife, they preserved animal and human life in a great boat, which they built. Yes, it sounds identical to the biblical story of Noah but predates the Bible story.

Time magazine noted the similarities between Gilgamesh and the Bible’s Noah’s Ark in a review of the Noah movie from 2014:

“The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh dates back nearly 5,000 years and is thought to be perhaps the oldest written tale on the planet. In it, there is an account of the great sage Utnapishtim, who is warned of an imminent flood to be unleashed by wrathful gods. He builds a vast circular-shaped boat, reinforced with tar and pitch, that carries his relatives, grains, and animals. After enduring days of storms, Utnapishtim, like Noah in Genesis, releases a bird in search of dry land.”

From Time Magazine

Related Read: The Epic Of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI, The Flood And A Comparison To the Bible’s Flood

Like Noah, Utnapishtim survives, but then the god Enlil rewards him and his wife with immortality. Thus, they become the ancestors of a new human race.

The Secret at the Bottom of the Sea

Did Utnapishtim, who was granted immortality by the gods, have the secret for immortality? After finally finding the immortal sage, Gilgamesh learns that the secret is at the sea’s bottom.

At first, Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh that only the gods can grant immortality. Then, he concedes that there may be a way to rejuvenate to a more youthful state. At that point, he tells Gilgamesh about a “plant” found at the bottom of the ocean. This plant could reveal secrets about longer life, if not immortality.

So, Gilgamesh sets out to find the “plant that looks like a box-thorn” sometimes translated to a coral. Then, he manages to lose it – to a snake.

“Gilgamesh obtains the plant by binding stones to his feet to allow him to walk on the bottom of the sea. He plans to use the flower to rejuvenate the old men of the city of Uruk and then to use it himself. Unfortunately, he places the plant on the shore of a lake while he bathes, and it is stolen by a serpent, which loses its old skin and is thus reborn.”

From Ancient-literature.com

Thus, Gilgamesh must learn to live with his mortality and dies unable to unlock the undersea coral’s secrets.

An Ancient Story Turned Real?

Could one of the world’s oldest stories be talking about the immortal jellyfish? Well, when the jellyfish is injured, it can fall to the bottom of the sea. Then, it turns into a blob and grows into a plant-like polyp.

Indeed, there is a striking similarity between the story of Gilgamesh and the factual reality of the immortal jellyfish.

Perhaps one day, unlike Gilgamesh, scientists might discover the secrets for rejuvenation or a cure for cancer and brain disease, if not immortality? Already, scientists have learned how to reprogram cells in adult mice to make them young stem cells. 

Also, scientists have learned that jellyfish could be one of our most distant ancient ancestors in recent years: the root of the Tree of Life. 

See more about the Epic of Gilgamesh and Utnapishtim from CrashCourse:

Featured image: Gilgamesh tablet by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) with screenshots via YouTube