World’s oldest tree foundJust down a ravine in a forest in Los Rios, southern Chile, a giant tree has survived for thousands of years and is about to be recognised as the oldest tree in the world.
It is a ‘Fitzroya Cupressoides’, a type of cypress endemic to southern Latin America.
With more than 5000 years, it is about to replace the Methuselah, a 4850 year-old pine tree existing in California (United States).
Known as the ‘great grandfather’, the trunk of the millenary Chilean tree, which is four metres in diameter and 28 metres high, contains precious scientific information that may shed light on how the planet has adapted to climate change.
“There is no other that has had the opportunity to live so long,” assures Antonio Lara, a researcher at Austral University and Chile’s Centre for Climate Science and Resilience, who is part of the team that measured the tree’s age.
In recent years, the number of tourists who wanted to get to know this special tree has increased, which has led the Chilean national forestry body to reinforce the number of forest guards and restrict access to the site.
“There are many reasons that give value and meaning to this tree and the need to protect it. It is a symbol of resistance and adaptation, an open book”, points out Antonio Lara, quoted by the AFP agency.
