the only animal that responds to death by hitting ctrl-z on its own body.
means a tiny jellyfish species that can revert its adult cells back into a juvenile polyp stage instead of dying, essentially resetting its life cycle.
from discovered in the mediterranean in the 1880s, but its trick went unnoticed until the 1990s when a marine biology student kept forgetting to feed his samples, watched them age backward instead of die, and accidentally found the only known biologically immortal animal.
turritopsis dohrnii — the species itself, native to the mediterranean, now global via ship ballast water
shin kubota lab — japanese biologist has kept colonies alive and cycling since 2011
christian sommer discovery — german student's 1988 observation kicked off the research