VALDIVIA: In a forest in southern Chile, a giant tree has survived for thousands of years and is in the process of being recognised as the oldest in the world.
Known as the “Great Grandfather,” the trunk of this tree measuring four meters (13 feet) in diameter and 28 meters tall is also believed to contain scientific information that could shed light on how the planet has adapted to climatic changes.
Believed to be more than 5,000 years old, it is on the brink of replacing Methuselah, a 4,850-year-old Great Basin bristlecone pine found in California in the United States, as the oldest tree on the planet.
“It’s a survivor, there are no others that have had the opportunity to live so long,” said Antonio Lara, a researcher at Austral University and Chile’s centre for climate science and resilience, who is part of the team measuring the tree’s age.
The Great Grandfather lies on the edge of a ravine in a forest in the southern Los Rios region, 800 kilometres to the south of the capital Santiago.
It is a Fitzroya cupressoides, a type of cypress tree that is endemic to the south of the continent.
Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023
