Megalodons (Otodus megalodon) are one of the most famous ancient sea creatures because of their enormous size and ferocity. The oldest megalodon fossils show the ocean’s old pecking order because… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 days ago
Kristen Holder
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I'm a fact-driven creative with a love of history and an eye for detail. I graduated from the University of California, Riverside in 2009 with a BA in Art History after a STEM-focused high school career. Telling a complex story with real information in a manner that's easy to digest is my talent. When I'm not writing for A-Z Animals, I'm doting on my 3 cats while I watch documentaries and listen to music in Romance languages.
Even the most famously long-lived species usually max out at a few centuries old. However, about 25 percent of trees triple and sometimes quadruple the average life expectancy of their… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 days ago
While the earliest examples of writing were inventories and business notes, writing was soon used for esoteric pursuits. Abstract concepts like religion began to be recorded for future generations on… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 days ago
Tens of thousands of wild plants were eaten by humans for millions of years. However, only around 600 are currently cultivated as a food source today. What are the oldest… Read More
By Kristen Holder 6 days ago
Trees are a necessary part of sustaining human life on Earth. Africa contains unique ancient trees called baobabs (Adansonia digitata) that grow in savannahs. Is the oldest African baobab the… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 days ago
Humans have called America home for over 13,000 years. While most of the historical housing that exists in America today is a result of colonialism, there are still extant ancient… Read More
By Kristen Holder 7 days ago
The Book of Genesis hosts all of the oldest figures in the Bible as they are all part of a patrilineal line from Adam to Noah. The 10 oldest persons… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 week ago
South Carolina has a rich history that’s steeped in both local and imported cultural inheritances which creates its unique identity. As one of the oldest colonized regions in the United… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 week ago
Some life forms on earth are extremely long-lived. A few trees are famous for living thousands of years but have we discovered an animal that can live 10,000 years? We… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 week ago
Determining if a volcano is active usually comes down to the time since the last eruption. If a volcano has shown any activity in the last 10,000 years, it’s classified… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 week ago
Bernese mountain dogs are one of four Swiss mountain dogs from farms in Switzerland. These dogs were recognized as an official breed in 1912. It’s well known that big dogs… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 weeks ago
Georgia was the southernmost of the 13 original British Colonies that eventually formed the United States of America. The state has a deep history and played a central role in… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 weeks ago
Pinpointing the oldest country in Africa is tricky. While sophisticated civilizations with developed cultures lived on the African continent for many millennia, the modern concept of a country is a… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 weeks ago
The earth’s crust is super thin yet it lays the foundation for all life on earth. Oceanic crust currently makes up 60 percent of the planet’s surface but this has… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 weeks ago
A mountain is an area of land that rises from the earth’s crust by at least 1000 feet. The famous and towering mountain ranges in the western United States, the… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 weeks ago
Living fossils of plants and animals showcase species surviving, mostly unchanged, for many millions of years. They capture changes on the planet that would otherwise be unknown. What are the… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 weeks ago
Asia is a continent divided up into 4 major regions. These regions are the Middle East, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. Civilizations have existed on the continent… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 weeks ago
Ginkgo biloba is also known as the maidenhair tree and it’s the last surviving tree of its type. It’s native to China, it lives a long time, and it might… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 weeks ago
One of the most common pet reptiles is the bearded dragon. But do you know who's the oldest bearded dragon ever recorded? Plus, what's their expected lifespan? We’ll explore these… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 weeks ago
While some of the youngest forests on the planet are currently establishing themselves, other forests on the planet have been around for over 100 million years. We’ll discover the oldest… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 weeks ago
The word “Europe” was originally used by the ancient Thracian people thousands of years ago to refer to their lands in the southeast of the continent. Europe is the second-smallest… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 weeks ago
Goldfish are a common fish discovered in pet shops, in aquariums, at fairs, and swimming in ponds around the world. Most people know someone who won one of these fish… Read More
By Kristen Holder 4 weeks ago
Hamsters are rodents. It's been said that species with hamster-like features, now extinct, can be traced back millions of years. Keep reading to find out what is the oldest hamster… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
The oldest Hawaiian Islands tell a story about the power of volcanic activity. When the Pacific Plate moved, the volcanoes created by a hotspot formed a chain of islands. These… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
Life first evolved in the oceans and continues to expand to this day. What are some of the oldest animals living in the ocean? Let’s meet the 5 oldest sea… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
While a dog’s ability to have puppies declines with age, they never go through menopause. Their chances of pregnancy dwindle as the years go on, but dogs can get pregnant… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
Domesticated cats (Felis catus) are some of the most popular pets on the planet. While researchers previously believed that the ancient Egyptians domesticated the first cats, studies show cats started… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
Most animal species last a few million years before going extinct but there are always exceptions called living fossils. Some of these animals have been around for hundreds of millions… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
The concept of non-native animals being kept for display is as old as Ancient Egypt. However, today’s modern zoos began developing just a few centuries ago. What are the 4… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
Maltese dogs are small and cute, which makes them a popular pet choice. But did you know they also live for a very long time? How old is the oldest… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
Poodles came into being at some time during the 1400s and they were bred for more than one skill. They were originally designed to hunt, swim, retrieve, and herd. Poodles… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
Due to advancements in modern medicine, the human lifespan has almost doubled in some parts of the world. While most people hope to reach 80 years old, a few people… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
While most people adopt a sense of identity from the country in which they reside, most countries do not stand the test of time. However, some regions have consistently hosted… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
Consuming ethanol began long ago via overripe fruit to the point that the enzymes created by the human liver are ten percent dedicated to creating energy from alcohol. Wine is… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
Temples are visible structures for worship and they play an integral role in a variety of religions. Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Mormons, and many others currently use temples as their sacred… Read More
By Kristen Holder 1 month ago
The oldest confirmed non-clonal organism on earth is the Great Basin bristlecone pine though there are likely older trees yet to be discovered around the world. Even so, let’s discover… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
Today, insects are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. It’s well known that they’re ancient, but what’s the oldest insect ever discovered? What’s the oldest insect still… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
There are plants and animals in the world that humans have eaten regularly for millennia. As humans began learning about optimal eating for better survival, foods that required ingredients and… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
It’s not possible to discover the exact tree that is the oldest olive tree in the world. Olive trees are hard to date because the center of the tree disappears… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
Some animals in the ocean live longer than the oldest land animals. There are also land animals alive today that have lived longer than every human currently on the planet.… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
Horses were one of the last livestock species to be domesticated. Today there are more than two hundred different breeds of horses that all originated from the same ancestor. Let's… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
Human lifespans seem long to us, but they’re short when compared to other species on the planet. Some trees have seen the rise of human civilization and a few animals… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
The Colorado River is a long watercourse in the western United States. The states reliant on the water in the Colorado River system needed to be regulated so that everyone was treated… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
One of the most regrettable side effects of colonialism, industrialism, and globalization is the rise in animal extinctions over the last few centuries. By the time conservation efforts were born… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
Trees aren’t genetically programmed to die. They die because something like a fire ripped through their environment, they fall over, or they’re destroyed by lightning. Trees continually grow until they… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
Animals are hermaphroditic if they have organs for both sexes in the same body. On the other hand, animals are monomorphic if there are no distinguishable differences between sexes. What… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
Dolphins are so intelligent that some people think they’re smarter than humans. If you’re drawn to the dolphin as your spirit animal, it means that you’re almost always the smartest… Read More
By Kristen Holder 2 months ago
The Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) Act was passed on April 11, 1956. It took eight years to compile the information needed to create the act. The Colorado River Storage… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Most spiders don’t live over a year but some spiders live longer than cats and dogs. The oldest spider ever recorded was 43 years old before it died! We’ll talk… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
Humans have been communicating about their reality on external objects for over forty thousand years. The most ancient imagery survives in caves scattered around the globe. These pictographs show that… Read More
By Kristen Holder 3 months ago
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