The Oldest Tree on Earth Is Kept Hidden in the U.S. But Why

Bright Side

The oldest known tree on Earth is quietly growing somewhere in the U.S., but its exact location stays secret to protect it from vandalism and curious tourists. This ancient bristlecone pine has survived for nearly 5,000 years, outlasting entire civilizations, ice-cold winters, scorching droughts, and storms that would level most other trees. Scientists discovered its age by analyzing tree rings, which work like a natural timeline showing every year the tree has lived through. The forest where it stands also holds other trees almost as old, making the region one of the most extraordinary living museums on the planet. And in this video, you’ll see why researchers hide its location and what this tree can teach us about climate history, resilience, and the passage of deep time.  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:01The country's authorities are hiding something from you.

00:04They don't want ordinary people to ever find out the truth.

00:08You can see a lot of fake photos and false locations on the internet,

00:12but almost none of them are true.

00:14So what secret are they keeping?

00:16You definitely don't expect to hear this.

00:19They're hiding a tree.

00:22But it's not just a tree.

00:24Money grows on its branches.

00:26Can you believe it?

00:27Of course not, it's a joke.

00:29But the truth is, America does protect the oldest tree in the world,

00:33and its name is Methuselah.

00:36You can Google it, and you will find a lot of fake pictures and some old gnarled aspens.

00:42Real photos of Methuselah are quite rare,

00:45and its location remains a mystery to this day.

00:48It's known to grow somewhere along the Methuselah Trail in the Inyo National Forest in California.

00:53It's a bristlecone pine tree,

00:55and its age is more than 4,600 years.

01:00Imagine how cool it would be to touch the trunk of that tree

01:02and feel all those thousands of years of history.

01:06Only, it's not cool.

01:08This is the reason why the country is hiding its location.

01:11If thousands of tourists touched the tree and picked up small pieces of its branches,

01:16it wouldn't last even a month.

01:19Many trees in this area are pretty weak right now and suffering from drought and all kinds of bad insects.

01:25So Methuselah is also in danger.

01:27Don't touch or approach it, even if you find out the location.

01:31The tree was discovered by dendrochronologist Edmund Shulman.

01:36A dendrochronologist is a scientist who studies the rings of ancient trees.

01:41But more on that later.

01:43So Shulman discovered the tree in the middle of the previous century,

01:46and over the past 50 years, it has become shrouded in rumors and legends.

01:50But how did Shulman know it was the oldest?

01:54In 1957, he took a core sample and studied the tree's annual rings.

01:59You see, every year, a layer forms inside a tree, resembling a ring.

02:04But scientists don't cut the trunk, don't worry.

02:07They extract a piece as thick as a pencil, and that's enough.

02:11The more layers, the older the tree is.

02:13So, Shulman counted Methuselah's rings and found out that it's been growing for more than 4,600 years.

02:21This means it's even older than ancient giant redwoods, which were considered the oldest trees on the planet.

02:28In 1958, Shulman told the story about the existence of Methuselah and posted its photo in National Geographic.

02:36From that moment on, the tree became popular.

02:38Many people wanted to pluck a cone or twig from it, so the authorities forbade publishing information about the location of the tree.

02:47Later, other scientists examined Methuselah's rings and suggested it could be younger,

02:52though some rings were too faint or damaged to count.

02:56In any case, it remains the most ancient tree on Earth, officially confirmed, that is.

03:00But it wasn't always like this.

03:02Back in 1964, a geographer Donald R. Curry stumbled upon a tree called Prometheus, which was about 5,000 years old.

03:12And you know what he did?

03:13He just cut it down.

03:15There are many theories about why he did it.

03:18The tool for getting core samples was broken, or this guy didn't know how to use it, but the result was sad.

03:25The tree didn't survive.

03:27Hopefully, nothing like this will happen to Methuselah, and it will live a long life.

03:31But why are scientists so worried about it?

03:34Yeah, it can tell a lot about the history of our planet.

03:38But is there another reason?

03:40There's a theory that this tree could live forever if no one cut it down, and droughts or parasites didn't destroy it.

03:47So basically, Methuselah's like nature's fountain of youth.

03:51Imagine if we could use that trick on people.

03:55Okay, now we know what the US hides.

03:57But do you know what Australia keeps secret?

04:01Not just a tree, but an island.

04:05Even if you were allowed to visit the island, it wouldn't be easy for you to get there.

04:10The island is located between Australia and Antarctica, somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

04:15But it's unlikely that you would get such permission.

04:18The fact is that Herd Island is completely untouched by humans, and Australia wants to keep it that way.

04:25You'll find little reliable information about this island on the internet.

04:29All we know is that the island has two active volcanoes, Australia's tallest mountain, and several glaciers.

04:37But you know what the coolest thing is?

04:40It's home to animals you won't find anywhere else.

04:43The island's closed ecosystem preserves creatures that might have never seen people.

04:48The next island is quite famous and is located in Brazil.

04:54The authorities don't keep it a secret, but they protect it from tourists.

04:59Even if you had permission to visit this place, you probably wouldn't want to.

05:04This is Snake Island, and its name speaks for itself.

05:09This piece of land contains the largest concentration of venomous snakes in the world.

05:13Those are golden lance-head pit vipers.

05:17One bite of this snake is critically dangerous for a person.

05:20The snakes are all over the place there and have almost no competition from other animals.

05:26Only specialists capable of handling these reptiles can visit the island.

05:31Lots of secret places stay off-limits because humans can mess them up without meaning to.

05:36It's not that we're bad.

05:37It's just that even being there can change tiny, invisible parts of nature.

05:42And here's a great example of the kind of destruction we can trigger.

05:48You've all seen photos of ancient cave paintings with horses and bulls.

05:53One of the most famous of such caves is the Lascaux Cave, which is located in France.

05:59On the walls inside the cave, people found more than 600 drawings and about 1,500 engravings.

06:06The 20,000-year-old drawings depicted different animals.

06:10Scientists opened the cave to the public.

06:12And this led to a disaster.

06:14Too many people came to see the cave, and it messed up the cave's ecosystem.

06:19Then a fungus showed up and started spreading over the walls, ruining the old drawings.

06:25It was a tragedy for the scientific world.

06:27The cave was quickly closed to visitors.

06:30Now only a small group of archaeologists can enter it.

06:33No one knows when or if the cave will open again.

06:37Those glimpses of human history from the first European settlements might be lost to the public forever.

06:43Our next secret location is in Svalbard, Norwegian Archipelago.

06:49This is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a massive storage vault that can keep 4.5 million seeds of different types.

06:58The authorities say that the seeds are stored there to preserve the population in case of a local disaster.

07:03But a lot of people think they're tucked away for the apocalypse, ready to help us replant Earth if everything goes wrong.

07:11But why, of all countries, did people decide to store seeds here?

07:16Because of Svalbard's cold, dry climate, the weather conditions here are ideal for seed preservation.

07:24The vault is well-guarded, it's classified, and no one can get inside except for authorized persons.

07:31All our secret places are connected with nature.

07:35An island, a forest, a cave.

07:38But how about finishing the video in the city?

07:41It's in plain sight, but it hides a secret room that is impossible to enter.

07:47In Atlanta, Georgia, inside a museum with top-notch security,

07:51the secret Coca-Cola recipe sits locked away in a massive safe.

07:56What?

07:57Yes, this is probably one of the most guarded secrets in the world.

08:01Money, diamonds, ancient artifacts.

08:04None of them get the kind of protection a single sheet of paper with the Coke recipe does.

08:09This secret has been kept there for more than 125 years.

08:14The unique storage design and security system make burglary almost impossible.

08:20You can visit a specialized museum and see the door to the vault, but nothing else.

08:25Sure, it sounds a little crazy to guard a single piece of paper.

08:29But then again, this drink has made the company billions.

08:32Coca-Cola has been one of the world's favorite drinks for over a century,

08:37and it's still raking in massive profits.

08:40So it's not surprising that its recipe is kept so secret.

08:44That's it for today.

08:46So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,

08:49then give the video a like and share it with your friends.

08:51Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the bright side.

08:55OK.

08:56OK.

09:00The key part of the green side.

09:00See youPlzega.

09:10.

09:13.

09:18.

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