So, guess what? Scientists in Russia actually managed to grow a plant from some super old seeds—like, 32,000 years old. Yeah, you read that right. It’s now the oldest plant we’ve ever brought back. The last record-holder? Only 2,000 years old. This one totally shattered that record
These ancient seeds came from a little Ice Age squirrel that buried them ages ago near the Kolyma River in Siberia.
That squirrel was probably just trying to save lunch for later. The seeds ended up getting frozen way underground—about 124 feet deep. They were sitting there with bones of mammoths, bison, and woolly rhinos.
Wild, right?
Now, some of the seeds were pretty damaged—maybe the squirrel chewed on them to stop them from growing too early in its burrow. But luckily, a few immature seeds still had viable material.
Scientists carefully extracted the living tissue, placed it in test tubes, and amazingly, they grew into real, live plants! They even bloomed and produced new seeds after a year.
These ancient flowers looked a little different from modern Silene stenophylla, but they were genetically identical.
Pretty cool, right? They were like clone twins from the Ice Age.
Peter Raven, a top botanist from the Missouri Botanical Garden, said the study seems solid. “No real issues,” he commented. But even he admitted, “You’d definitely want to repeat a study this extraordinary.” Makes sense—it’s a pretty unbelievable claim.
Could This Help Save Old Seeds?
Here’s where it gets even more interesting.
This discovery suggests that permafrost could be a natural vault for ancient plants. It might be hiding extinct species that could one day be revived.
Elaine Solowey, who once brought a 2,000-year-old date palm back to life, said this could be a game-changer. She wasn’t part of this new study, but she knows her ancient seeds. Her date seed was buried in dry, cool conditions, not frozen like this one.
Still, she believes this research could really help with long-term seed preservation. Most seed-saving efforts—like Norway’s famous Svalbard Global Seed Vault—rely on freezing seeds. But we don’t fully understand how to thaw and regrow them after thousands of years.
Elaine said, “Any insight on frozen seeds and how to sprout them is super valuable.” Peter Raven added that if we figure out what helped these seeds survive 32,000 years, then we might be able to preserve modern seeds for just as long.
Who would've thought that a squirrel’s ancient snack stash could help save the future of food?
