![\"Clouds](\"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/4967557687_1f2e315ec4.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat that means is that when you see mass coral bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef, for instance, what you are actually seeing is the mass death of animals that have been alive since before 3000 BC (some of them anyways).<\/p>\n
Animals that have been alive since anything very similar to the language you speak, and the beliefs you hold, even existed. And, also, when your own ancestors were very likely living in a different part of the world then you are now (periodic mass migrations are a constant of the history of the last 10,000 or so years).<\/p>\n
What’s particularly interesting about the research is that, owing to the way that many corals sometimes “reproduce” by fragmenting, the largest corals aren’t necessary the oldest — as some had previously supposed. Indeed, determining age simply by observing the size the of the coral colony\/skeleton in question doesn’t seem to be possible. For some species anyways.<\/p>\n