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
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
-
Guanahacabibes National Park, Cuba
-
International Day for Monuments and Sites
-
75 years of the United Nations
-
Of balloons and lost pantaloons
-
Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel in Arkansas
-
World Reef Day
-
Saint Andrews Day
-
A view fit for a queen
-
Celebrate Mandela Day
-
Ukrainian Independence Day
-
National Panda Day
-
A place called ‘Peace’ in India
-
A city, a cliff, a canyon…and cheese
-
A goldie gala
-
Manatee Appreciation Day
-
Storm rolls over the grasslands
-
Are you older than this lake?
-
Happy World Photography Day!
-
Christmas Tree Point Road and Twin Peaks, San Francisco
-
Exploring the wilder side of New York
-
The Lena Delta Wildlife Reserve in Siberia, Russia
-
Computer science on the page
-
Kluane National Park
-
A state-of-the-art lookout on the Rock of Gibraltar
-
San Francisco’s City Hall illuminated by the iconic colors of Pride
-
World Otter Day
-
Happy Boxing Day!
-
World Maritime Day
-
Black Fell in England s Lake District
-
Bow Bridge in Central Park, New York City