The ancient tree that has survived for thousands of years in the forests of southern Chile is set to be recognized as the oldest tree in the world.
Great Grandfather tree with a diameter of 4m. (Photo: Reuters).
Named “Great Grandfather,” this tree has a diameter of 4 meters and a height of 28 meters. It is believed to hold scientific information that could reveal how Earth adapts to climate change. With an estimated age of over 5,000 years, it is poised to surpass Methuselah, the 4,850-year-old bristlecone pine in California, USA, to become the oldest tree on the planet, according to Antonio Lara, a researcher at the University of Austria and the Chilean Climate Science Center, who is part of the team measuring the tree’s age, as reported by Phys.org on April 22.
The Great Grandfather is located at the edge of a canyon in a forest in Los Rios region, about 800 km south of the capital Santiago. It is a Fitzroya cupressoides, a species of cypress endemic to the southern part of the continent. In recent years, tourists have hiked for an hour through the forest to take photos next to the tree. Due to its growing popularity, forestry authorities have increased the number of forest rangers and restricted access to protect the Great Grandfather. Also known as the Patagonian cypress, this is the largest tree species in South America. It grows alongside other species such as coigue, bamboo pine, and tepa. For centuries, its thick trunk has been cut down to build houses and ships.
Forest ranger Anibal Henriquez discovered the tree while patrolling the forest in 1972. His grandson, Jonathan Barichivich, is now one of many scientists studying it. In 2020, Barichivich and Lara obtained samples from the Great Grandfather using the longest hand drill, but they have not yet reached the tree’s core. They estimate the sample to be 2,400 years old and used predictive modeling to calculate the tree’s full age. According to Barichivich, there is an 80% chance that the tree is over 5,000 years old. He hopes to announce the research results soon.
This research has attracted significant attention in the scientific community because dendrochronology, the method used to date tree rings, is less accurate for older trees due to many having decayed cores. Very few trees that are several thousand years old still exist on the planet. Ancient trees possess unique genes and histories, symbolizing resilient adaptation, according to Carmen Gloria Rodriguez, a research assistant in the tree-aging laboratory at the University of Austria. The Great Grandfather is also viewed as a time capsule that can reveal the past.
