andrew
We all know the oldest living person on earth is Susannah Mushatt Jones, who is 116 years old, and that the oldest living animal is a tortoise named Jonathan, which has been living for 183 years now. But it’s not just these oldies who deserve a certificate for having lived that long. There’s someone—or something rather—from Europe that wants to snatch a record too. But it’s not a person nor an animal—it’s a tree.
The world’s oldest tree can be found in Sweden. It’s a Norwegian Spruce named Old Tjikko, and it is 9,500 years old.
This tree was discovered in 2004 by Leif Kullman, a professor of physical geography at Umea University. The age of the tree was determined through carbon dating.
[dfp1]
[dfp2]
Professor Kullman said that during the ice age, the sea level was 120 meters lower than it was today and what is now the North Sea used to be a forest.
[dfp3]
The winds and low temperature made Old Tjikko like a bonsai tree. Big trees are unable to live as long as Old Tjikko.
[dfp4]
