00:00The largest tree in the world is so massive, it even earned itself the nickname General
00:05Sherman.
00:06It stands tall in California's Sequoia National Park, stretching its branches at 275 ft toward
00:13the sky.
00:14That's almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty.
00:17As for its weight, if we could place it on a scale, we'd need 400 elephants to balance
00:22things out.
00:23Its base stretches 36 ft in diameter, big enough to hide two sedans parked end-to-end.
00:30California is the last place on Earth where these colossal trees grow naturally.
00:35During the Ice Age, they flourished across North America and Europe, but as the glaciers
00:40retreated, so did the sequoias.
00:42Today, they thrive along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada Range, relying on the
00:47melting glacier caps to quench their thirst.
00:51General Sherman gathers thousands of visitors every day, and the park's infrastructure
00:55caters to this.
00:56There's a short half-mile walk from the nearest parking lot that leads to the big
01:01green giant.
01:03Along the way, a stone marker outlines the shape and size of the tree's base, to give
01:08visitors a sense of its immense scale.
01:11This sassy sequoia is estimated to be around 23-2700 years old and has witnessed centuries
01:18of change.
01:20It sprouted during the early days of the Roman Empire.
01:23When Europeans arrived in California in the late 1800s, they first tried to harvest the
01:28sequoias, thinking they had valuable wood.
01:31However, the sheer effort required to take down these giants was enormous for those days.
01:37They also soon figured out that this type of wood was a bit more brittle than expected,
01:42so they let these trees off the hook.
01:45As for its name, the tree shares it with General William Tecumseh Sherman, a 19th-century
01:51famous American public servant.
01:53Not far from General Sherman stands the world's second-largest tree, named General Grant.
01:59Discovered by locals years before General Sherman received its name, this tree has weathered
02:04its own share of challenges, including fires.
02:07But like its counterpart, it survived, mostly thanks to its thick bark and resilient hardwood.
02:15As for the oldest tree, for a long time, we've known it to be a Great Basin bristlecone pine
02:20named Methuselah, also found in California.
02:23It's been around for more than 4,800 years, way before the Egyptians built the Pyramids
02:28of Giza.
02:30This tree's location is a bit of a secret to keep it safe from harm.
02:34Now Methuselah and its friends grow way up high in California, Nevada, and Utah, where
02:39it's tough to survive.
02:41The place is cold, with dry soil and fierce winds, but these strong timbers have figured
02:46out how to thrive, getting their nutrients from the hard, rocky ground up in the mountains.
02:52Their branches are twisted and gnarled because of the winds blowing in all directions as
02:56they reach maturity.
02:58It does make their appearance a bit messy, but it's an added layer of resistance for
03:02those trees during powerful storms.
03:05Their roots only feed the branches right above them, so if one part of the tree's roots
03:10fades away, only that part of the tree will be affected.
03:15There's a new contender, however, for the same title of the oldest tree.
03:19In Chile, there's a Patagonian cypress called Gran Abuello, which means Great Grandfather
03:24in Spanish.
03:26It might even be older than Methuselah, by about 500 years.
03:30This would mean this tree has seen people roaming around during the Bronze Age.
03:34To figure out a tree's age, we generally need to look inside its bark and count its
03:39rings.
03:40For the Gran Abuello, though, scientists use complex math to estimate how old it is.
03:46Some experts aren't convinced by this method just yet.
03:49No matter which tree is older, both Methuselah and the Gran Abuello have seen a lot of changes
03:55in their long lives.
03:56Each ring in their trunks holds info about the weather from the year it grew.
04:01Scientists can learn a ton about past climates on our planet by studying these ancient trees.
04:08The world's tallest tree is also off-limit to visitors, but this is a recent safety measure.
04:14Its name is Hyperion and it's located in Redwood National Park, California.
04:19Standing at a towering 380 feet, Hyperion is a coastal redwood, taller than the length
04:25of an American football field.
04:28Named after a character in Greek mythology, Hyperion was discovered in 2006 by two researchers.
04:34The park is home to other incredibly tall trees like Helios and Icarus, both also reaching
04:40heights of over 370 feet.
04:44The impressive height of redwoods in Northern California is due to their leaves and the
04:48region's climate.
04:50These trees absorb and store moisture from morning fog.
04:54Even their sprouts promote growth after injury, allowing them to live for a very long time.
04:59However, their shallow roots make them susceptible to damage from hikers.
05:04Besides being a record holder, Hyperion's appearance may not live up to the hype.
05:09Witnessing its towering height from the ground is hard, and its trunk isn't that impressive.
05:14Hyperion is currently tucked away in a closed-off section with no official trail.
05:20Despite this, many tree enthusiasts have trampled through over the years, harming the habitat
05:26leading up to it.
05:27Trash has also been found along the way in the past.
05:30The park recently issued a statement urging visitors to steer clear of this tree.
05:35Otherwise, they could face hundreds of dollars worth of fines and even end up behind bars.
05:41The Tree of Life stands as a resilient symbol amidst the arid desert landscape of Bahrain.
05:48Nestled in the highest point of the country, this ancient tree defies odds, captivating
05:53visitors with its mysterious and inexplicable presence.
05:56It's surrounded by endless stretches of heated dunes in the Arabian desert.
06:02Because it stands alone against the desert backdrop, it has puzzled scientists and botanists
06:06for years.
06:07There's little to no rainfall over there.
06:10There are also no freshwater sources nearby.
06:13Despite the lack of moisture, the Tree of Life insists on flourishing, flaunting its
06:18green foliage.
06:19How it manages to survive in such harsh conditions led to some weird theories.
06:25Some speculate that the tree's roots go deep into the earth, reaching depths of up to 160
06:30feet to access underground water reserves.
06:34Others suggest that the tree has adapted to its environment, drawing moisture from the
06:38surrounding sand grains through specialized mechanisms.
06:42One other interesting idea is that the Tree of Life lies at the side of the legendary
06:47Garden of Eden, getting its water from a mystical source.
06:51Apart from its scientific and cultural significance, the Tree of Life is an important tourist attraction
06:56for locals, luring in approximately 65,000 visitors each year.
07:01All for a tree.
07:05Poland has its fair share of trees worth mentioning, all gathered in the Crooked Forest.
07:11It's a group of 400 trees that bend strangely.
07:14They all have a similar shape, curving sharply toward the sky in little J-shapes, almost
07:19touching the ground.
07:21People have different ideas about why these trees look like that.
07:25Some think a heavy snowstorm covered them when they were young, pushing them down.
07:29Others believe the area's gravity might have affected how they grow.
07:34One interesting theory is that people who planted these trees back in the 1920s might
07:39have bent them on purpose.
07:41They wanted to use the curved shapes to expedite the furniture manufacturing process.
07:46So when the trees were about 10 years old, they interfered with their growth, making
07:51them develop in this odd shape.
07:54After the manipulation process was stopped, it left the trees in this weird position for
07:58decades.
07:59Either way, whatever happened to one tree happened to them all because they're all
08:04adjusted in the same way.
08:06So human intervention is the most likely explanation.
08:10Even though all the trees in the Crooked Forest look the same with their spooky bend, they
08:14still manage to grow tall and healthy.
08:16They've adapted to their difficult conditions.
08:19And somehow, they've managed to keep growing upwards.
08:23That's it for today!
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