In eastern California, a Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) known as Methuselah has long been considered Earth's oldest living thing. According to tree-ring data, Methuselah is 4,853 years old — meaning it was well established by the time ancient Egyptians built the pyramids at Giza.
Some trees can live for centuries or even millennia but the secrets behind their long life spans have eluded scientists. However, new research has found that the ginkgo tree, which can live more than 1,000 years, doesn't really show any expected effects of aging — they appear to be primed for immortality.
Old Tjikko is a 9,550 year-old Norway spruce, located on Fulufjället Mountain of Dalarna province in Sweden. Old Tjikko originally gained fame as the "world's oldest tree".
Methuselah is located 10,000 feet above sea level in Inyo National Forest in California. But in an effort to protect the tree from vandalism, its exact location remains a closely-held secret protected by the U.S. Forest Service.
Australia's oldest tree is a huon pine located in the Lake Johnston Nature Reserve in Tasmania on Mount Reed. It is believed to be part of a stand of trees and clonal colony that dates to 10,500 years ago, though no individual tree in the stand is of that age. The oldest is believed to be about 2,000 years old.
This 2000-year-old stand of Huon pines discovered in the takayna-Tarkine wilderness, north-west Tasmania, must be protected.
The Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) has been deemed the oldest tree in existence, reaching an age of over 5,000 years old. The bristlecone pine's success in living a long life can be attributed to the harsh conditions it lives in.
The oldest tree known to have been planted by a human rather than by natural seeding is a 2,300-year-old sacred fig or bo-tree (Ficus religiosa) that has been named Sri Maha Bodhiya, and stands in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
Oldest animal ever
The longest-lived animal ever discovered is a quahog clam, estimated to be 507 years old. It had been living on the seabed off the north coast of Iceland until it was scooped up by researchers in 2006 as part of a climate change study.
The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi is a sacred Bo tree, that stands in the Mahamewna Gardens in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Not only is it the closest authentic living link to Gautama Buddha, it is also the oldest human-planted tree in the world with a known planting date and a recorded history.
Pando, a colony of quaking aspen, is one of the oldest-known clonal trees. Estimates of its age range up to 900,000 (or even 1,000,000) years old. It is located in Utah, United States.
The tree grows in a misty, old-growth forest on the north face of the tallest mountain on Yakushima island in Japan. Tree rings indicate the venerable cryptomeria is at least 2,000 years old, though some estimate it could be as old as 7,000 years.
10 Human years equates to 1 Tree year, or put another way 1 human year is about 1 month of tree life. It is this difference in 'TIMING' that must be understood when imposing changes on trees. The art of bonsai proves that you can do almost anything to a tree provided it is done in a timely manner.
Methuselah is a 4,854-year-old Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) tree growing high in the White Mountains of Inyo County in eastern California.
The coast redwood (sequoia sempervirens) tree is 115.92 meters (380 feet) tall and its name is derived from Greek mythology – Hyperion was one of the Titans and the father of sun god Helios and moon goddess Selene. Hyperion's trunk diameter is 4.84 meters (13 feet).
The oldest extracted ring from Methuselah might be from 2490 or 2555 B.C.E. In any case, this tree is well over 4,500 years old today.
KSNF/KODE — At 30 years and 286 days old, a Portuguese dog named “Bobi” was recently crowned the world's oldest dog ever, breaking an almost century-old record.
Regenerating flatworms
This apparently limitless regeneration also applies to aging and damaged tissue, allowing the worms to cheat death indefinitely, according to a study at the University of Nottingham.
The world's oldest colony of genetically identical trees is the stand of Huon pine (Lagarostrobus franklinii) on the west coast of Tasmania, Australia. The stand is believed to be over 10,500 years old, although no individual tree is that age.
Pando, the 47,000-tree clonal colony of male* quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) in Utah is thought to be one of the world's oldest living organisms—the root system of Pando is an estimated 80,000 years old.
SEA FOREST: Approximately 200,000 years
A sprawling sea grass meadow ten miles long near Spain ranks as the oldest known single organism on Earth, according to geneticists. Posidonia oceanica, known as Neptune's grass, is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea.
Growing to a mere 1-6cm in height, the dwarf willow (Salix herbacea) is arguably the world's tiniest tree.
We take a closer look at the Prosopis cineraria tree which is a tourist attraction in the Gulf country.
To see the world's oldest tree, or one of the frontrunners for world's oldest tree, one must travel to a mountaintop in Sweden where a spruce tree has kept its tenacious hold on life for nearly 10,000 years.