For decades, bristlecone pines, which can survive for up to 5,000 years, were thought to be the planet’s oldest living things. Now a tree in Chile is posing a challenge
Thousands of feet above the Nevada desert, in a part of Great Basin National Park that tourists rarely see, park ecologist Gretchen Baker neared the top of Mount Washington and raised her binoculars. There just below, sprouting directly from the limestone, grew some of the oldest living things on Earth.
With nothing around to kill them, these ancient beasts are left alone year after year to simply do what they do: store water in needles that can live for decades and pack on the teensiest bit of heft at a time. The wood grows so slowly it gets too dense for beetles or disease to penetrate.Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.: This young bristlecone pine was spared during the Phillips Ranch Fire in 2000, which killed thousands of others.
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