India, Oct. 7 -- The eggs of fairy shrimp have been observed to spend up to 100 years waiting under the soil until a proper rainy season appears, according to a Wildlife Research Institute biologist who spoke to the San Diego Reader in 2003. Some of that soil used to belong to an American film actor and was located in the grasslands of Ramona, San Diego County. During the 1940s, actor James Cagney and his brother purchased more than 500 acres of land in this area.

But after parts of it were sold over time, 417 acres were still held in trust by the Cagney family until 2003, when The Nature Conservancy purchased them for $2.6 million, the Reader reported. Funding came in part from different sources, including $1.4 million in state funds, $...