In 1964, a geologist in the Nevada wilderness discovered the oldest living thing on earth, after he killed it. The young man was Donald Rusk Currey, a graduate student studying ice-age glaciology in Eastern Nevada; the tree he cut down was of the Pinus longaeva species, also known as the Great Basin bristlecone pine.
This is the story of the Prometheus tree - how a half-dead pine survived since the time of the ancient Egyptians, and why you've never heard of it.
(thanks Hunter)
1 comment(s):
Oldest living tree? I think there would be some dispute over that. Certainly old Tjikko is older.
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