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:
-
Can you see the family resemblance?
-
Burns Night
-
A fair that s star-studded
-
What happened to these clouds?
-
Summer’s in home stretch
-
In the Navajo Nation for Code Talkers Day
-
Saskatchewan s spookier side
-
Happy birthday, Capitol Reef National Park
-
Here s looking Atchafalaya
-
Infrared Jupiter, erupting Io
-
Clouds over the River of Grass
-
Eben Ice Caves, Upper Peninsula, Michigan
-
A seabird gets schooled
-
The Wall for Peace
-
The meeting point of the winds
-
The call of the wild in Alaska
-
Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York
-
North Cascades National Park at 50
-
A cry for independence
-
Happy Boxing Day!
-
Castle ruins on the island of Halki, Greece
-
Astrotourism at its finest
-
Red-leaf hunting in Japan
-
National Roller Coaster Day
-
World Migratory Bird Day
-
Wyoming celebrates its statehood
-
Protecting endangered giants
-
Zelenci Nature Reserve, Slovenia
-
Preservation Hall in New Orleans, Louisiana
-
Colorful cows of the reef