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Think You're Old?
01/24/09 12:53 PM
Introducing the oldest living tree . . .
What do you think it would be like to live thousands of years instead of a few decades? Well, if trees could talk, they'd tell you. Actually, trees can "talk," but they communicate in a language humans can't comprehend. But I digress.
Until recently, biologists thought the oldest living tree was a bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of Nevada that clocked in at around 5,000 years. But recently, they discovered a much older tree — a spruce in Sweden that has been carbon dated at about 9,550 trips around the Sun. This remarkable entity budded into existence somewhere around 7,500 BCE. That's old.
Now, when we think of old trees, we often picture them as large or even gigantic. The towering spires of redwoods come to mind. However, both bristlecone pines and that 9,550 year old spruce in Sweden are unassuming in stature. In fact, the world's oldest living tree looks more like a shrub than a tree. In part this is because it resides in a very cold climate, one in which trees must hug the Earth and keep a low profile to survive.
The naturalists among us admire trees for many reasons — their beauty, hardiness, intelligence (yes, they "talk" to each other), adaptability and, of course, longevity. The world had trees long before it had humans and, without these woody brethren, it's possible our species would never have survived. After all, our hominid ancestors lived in trees long before they began walking upright and venturing forth on terra firma. Without the protection and food they provided, we might never have made it this far in the evolutionary battle for survival.
Until recently, biologists thought the oldest living tree was a bristlecone pine in the White Mountains of Nevada that clocked in at around 5,000 years. But recently, they discovered a much older tree — a spruce in Sweden that has been carbon dated at about 9,550 trips around the Sun. This remarkable entity budded into existence somewhere around 7,500 BCE. That's old.
Now, when we think of old trees, we often picture them as large or even gigantic. The towering spires of redwoods come to mind. However, both bristlecone pines and that 9,550 year old spruce in Sweden are unassuming in stature. In fact, the world's oldest living tree looks more like a shrub than a tree. In part this is because it resides in a very cold climate, one in which trees must hug the Earth and keep a low profile to survive.
The naturalists among us admire trees for many reasons — their beauty, hardiness, intelligence (yes, they "talk" to each other), adaptability and, of course, longevity. The world had trees long before it had humans and, without these woody brethren, it's possible our species would never have survived. After all, our hominid ancestors lived in trees long before they began walking upright and venturing forth on terra firma. Without the protection and food they provided, we might never have made it this far in the evolutionary battle for survival.