All is not as it appears to be here at Pando, in Utah"s Fishlake National Forest. At first glance, visitors likely see a massive grove of quaking aspen trees, their leaves dancing in the wind. But Pando is not many trees; instead, it"s a single organism. Like many aspen groves, the 40,000 trees in Pando are genetically identical cloned stems that sprouted from the same root system. First discovered in 1968, Pando made waves in the scientific world. It"s become recognized as one of the heaviest known organisms—weighing 6,000 metric tons—and one of the oldest known living organisms. Scientists estimate its root system is upwards of 80,000 years old, having endured the last ice age and countless forest fires. It got to be so old partly because most of the organism is protected underground. So, while an individual stem can die, the organism as a whole survives.
Fall comes to Pando
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Three cheers for polar bears!
-
Unbearable cuteness
-
National Park Week: Yosemite National Park, California
-
It’s World Migratory Bird Day
-
Sparkling ice diamonds on a black sandy beach
-
Holey moley–it’s National Doughnut Day!
-
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan Province, China
-
Celebrating freedom
-
The rainbow connection
-
A place fit for the gods
-
Leaves of Grass
-
Merry and bright
-
Let s face it: It s World Emoji Day
-
Acadia transformed
-
Hemingway’s Keys
-
Flocking together in the Antarctic
-
When an ideal microclimate gives you lemons…
-
Celebrating World Water Day
-
Road-trip worthy attraction in the heartland
-
Land ho in New Zealand 250 years ago