Reuters Science News Summary
Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
Long in the tooth: the Greenland shark may live four centuries
The Greenland shark, a big and slow-moving deep-ocean predator that prowls the frigid waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic, can claim the distinction of being the planet's longest-living vertebrate, with a lifespan perhaps reaching about 400 years. Its extremely sluggish growth rate, about four-tenths of a inch (1 cm) per year, had already tipped off scientists that it lived a very long time, and research published on Thursday calculated the Greenland shark's lifespan for the first time.
Rare tarantulas hatch at British zoo
A clutch of around 200 rare Montserrat tarantulas have successfully hatched at a British zoo in what keepers hailed on Friday as a first in breeding such spiders. "Invertebrate keepers at the zoo are the first in the world to successfully breed the Montserrat tarantulas, marking a crucial step towards discovering more about the mysterious species," Chester Zoo said in a statement.
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