The oldest living organism was a 250 million year old bacterium.

This oldest living organism were discovered encased inside a salt crystal 1,850 feet underground near Carlsbad, NM. Fossils and radiation tests showed that the sample was around 250 million years old during the end of the Paleozoic Era, a time when the world was experiencing its largest loss of life ever!

The organisms were revived from a state of suspended animation and had survived as a spore, metabolizing very little, if at all, over the centuries. DNA tests showed that the ancient bacteria are related to modern-day Bacillus, a type of bacteria found in soil, water and dust.

This story is pretty old, but you can still read about oldest living organism in CBS News.

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