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Reminds me of how one man accidentally killed the oldest tree ever: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-man-accidentally-killed-the-oldest-tree-ev
by nxzero 10y ago
Reminds me of how one man accidentally killed the oldest tree ever:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-man-accidentally-killed-the-oldest-tree-ever-125764872/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-man-acciden...
Then of course there's this article, "Vintage Photos of Lumberjacks and the Giant Trees They Felled"
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vintage-photos-of-lumberjacks-and-the-giant-trees-they-felled http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vintage-photos-of-lumbe...
- rev_bird 10y agoThe oldest bald cypress tree in the world grew in Florida for 3,500 years. Then it was burned down by a woman smoking meth inside of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Senator_(tree) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Senator_(tree)
- Ericson2314 10y ago:(
- pavel_lishin 10y agoOne thing I never understood is, were there other trees around that one? Are they also as old?
- maxerickson 10y agoIt's mentioned at the end of the link that an older tree has since been recorded. Note the photo and think about counting 5000 age rings on a pencil (roughly the situation with a core) and I think it becomes clear that 'recorded' is an important part of it.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- xufi 10y agoDefinitely. Thats how I I started recognizing the older trees from the sequoias I believe which are one of the oldest species of trees out there.
- timmaah 10y agoYes.. There are forests of the bristlecones. Most are hundreds and thousands of years old. The one that guy felled just happened to be the oldest of the group.
- Someone 10y agoHow would we know? AFAIK, we don't have ways to determine the age of a tree, other than counting rings. As for accidents with trees, the Ténéré tree (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ténéré_Tree https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ténéré_Tree), an acacia tree that was standing alone in the middle of the Sahara, is worth mentioning.
- smhenderson 10y agoHow would we know? In the story linked above they didn't know for sure, they just knew it was the oldest they had found yet. From that article: Now, Currey almost certainly didn’t fell the oldest tree ever. There are forests in the White Mountains, and elsewhere, where trees currently standing are probably far older than his Prometheus tree. We just don’t know about them. And then beneath that an update proving that he hadn't knocked down the oldest tree after all... Update February 10, 2016: Since this article was written, an older tree was identified in the White Mountains, California. The tree is also a bristlecone pine and is thought to be over 5,000 years old.
- macintux 10y agoThanks, I'd never encountered the story of the Ténéré tree.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- 8_hours_ago 10y agoIn 1876, not long after the giant sequoia trees were (re)discovered by settlers in California, a cross section of a large tree was sent to the east coast where it was dismissed as a hoax. The giant sequoias still seem like a hoax when viewed up close; their scale is truly enormous. Although I am glad that they are protected now, it would have been an amazing sight to see them being logged. I highly recommend visiting Sequoia National Park if you have the chance.
- ajtaylor 10y agoI was there in January and you're absolutely right - they are far, far larger than I ever imagined! Standing beside one, you basically disappear compared to the tree.
- SixSigma 10y agoSee also Ming the Mollusk, the oldest clam ever found, was 507 years old, according to tests. But Ming died prematurely thanks to the scientists who determined the age. http://reviewjournal.com/news/worlds-oldest-clam-killed-scientists-507-years-old http://reviewjournal.com/news/worlds-oldest-clam-killed-scie...