In 1997, Julia Hill set the record for staying in a tree. Thus, she wanted to draw public attention to the problem of forest conservation. How much she achieved her goal is unknown, but she managed to save the giant red tree from cutting down. It is worth knowing that plants do not suffer from age-related diseases, unlike humans. Over time, one part may die, another may grow through the ages.
Probably, each of us in childhood was told that some types of plants can live for hundreds of years. However, not even all adults know that the oldest tree is almost 10,000 years old. In Sweden, on Mount Fulu, the Old Tjikko spruce grows, the age of which has been calculated by scientists. When they first started talking about it, the age of the tree was "only" a few thousand years. Of course, its trunk is periodically updated, but the roots of the plant originated 100 centuries ago.
The question that scientists could not answer for a long time about how the oldest tree in the world could survive all the climate changes in the world has found itsthe explanation is that Old Tjikko died for a certain period of time, and under favorable conditions again escaped. This was the reason for the fallacy of the first judgment of scientists about the age of spruce.
Until the forties of the twentieth century, it was a trunk that
stands out against the background of a few greenery. At the same time, a favorable change in weather conditions caused the tree to grow again.
Before the exact age of the spruce was determined, the oldest tree in the world was represented by the Methuselah pine. It grows in the California National Wildlife Refuge, but the exact location is kept secret from the public. However, it is known that it grows at an altitude of more than three thousand meters above sea level. The name of the plant was given in honor of the biblical character, whose earthly path was 969 years. Methuselah is currently believed to be the oldest non-cloned living organism on the
planet Earth. According to scientists, his life began in 2831 BC. e.
Some researchers, as a contender for the title of "the oldest tree on earth", put forward the intermountain pine Prometheus. It grew on Wheeler Peak in the USA. Presumably this plant was more than 5000 years old, but the exact age has remained a mystery. It was discovered in 1958 by naturalists, who named it after the mythological character Prometheus.
In 1963, Donald Curry, a researcher, came to thisarea in order to study the plant world. Here he came across the described oldest tree and gave it a name - WPN - 114. Using the technologies of that time, the scientist proved that the plant was at least 3-4 thousand years old. In 1964, D. Curry, with the consent of the US Forest Service (USFS), cuts down a pine tree and divides it into parts, which were later sent to different laboratories. Currently parts of Prometheus can be seen in various American museums. And in the place where the oldest tree grew, now only a stump remains. For what purpose the scientist needed to destroy the entire plant is unknown.
