UM-Bot Posted October 18, 2018 #1 Share Posted October 18, 2018 A record-breaking 80,00-year-old clonal colony of aspen trees in central Utah is in danger of being wiped out. https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/322505/worlds-largest-living-thing-is-slowly-dying 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zep73 Posted October 18, 2018 #2 Share Posted October 18, 2018 (edited) @UM-Bot do you mean 8,000 or 80,000 ? Edited October 18, 2018 by sci-nerd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin3651 Posted October 18, 2018 #3 Share Posted October 18, 2018 Sounds like mule deer and cattle grazing is the problem based off other articles. Luckily mule deer are delicious and cattle are ok tasting. Time to do some emergency hunting and some emergency cattle slaughter. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiff Posted October 18, 2018 #4 Share Posted October 18, 2018 9 minutes ago, sci-nerd said: 8,000 or 80,000 ? According to the article... "Thought to be up to 80,000 years old" 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zep73 Posted October 18, 2018 #5 Share Posted October 18, 2018 1 minute ago, Stiff said: According to the article... "Thought to be up to 80,000 years old" I somehow managed not to see that. Thanks! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OverSword Posted October 18, 2018 #6 Share Posted October 18, 2018 honey fungus measuring 2.4 miles (3.8 km) across in the Blue Mountains in Oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on Earth. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzz_Light_Year Posted October 18, 2018 #7 Share Posted October 18, 2018 2 hours ago, justin3651 said: Sounds like mule deer and cattle grazing is the problem based off other articles. Luckily mule deer are delicious and cattle are ok tasting. Time to do some emergency hunting and some emergency cattle slaughter. One of the reason Wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone as the Elk were browsing unabated and new tree growth was almost non-existent. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Greenman Posted October 19, 2018 #8 Share Posted October 19, 2018 That is sad, the thing has lived for 80,000 years with Native Americans and the white man comes along a kills it in a few hundred years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unfortunately Posted October 19, 2018 #9 Share Posted October 19, 2018 40 minutes ago, Grandpa Greenman said: That is sad, the thing has lived for 80,000 years with Native Americans and the white man comes along a kills it in a few hundred years. Civilised man would be more accurate, not specifically white man although we're talking about America. The growth of a human civilisation is detrimental to everything except humans, that's why we've inevitably turned into a parasitic race in comparison to the rest of the animal kingdom. It's unfortunate and I hope we can eventually adapt to a better way of living that's easier on the planet but I'm doubtful we have the ability now that we've left it so late. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatetopa Posted October 19, 2018 #10 Share Posted October 19, 2018 There is a rather sad story about a forester who got his core sampler stuck in a bristlecone pine tree in 1964. Rangers said, "We have a bunch of those, we'll cut it down and get your sampler back. The guys name was Donal Curry. When he counted the rings, he found the tree to be almost 5,000 years old. They have not found an older one since then. 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DieChecker Posted October 19, 2018 #11 Share Posted October 19, 2018 16 hours ago, OverSword said: honey fungus measuring 2.4 miles (3.8 km) across in the Blue Mountains in Oregon is thought to be the largest living organism on Earth. I thought I remembered that too. Maybe this tree colony is more massive, but covers a lot less area? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paperdyer Posted October 23, 2018 #12 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Aspen is a pretty hardy tree. I'm sure the soil has been checked. After that many years the root systems of the trees may be stealing from each other. Maybe the species can be saved with cloning of some sort or splicing with another aspen that's younger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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