New research suggests that the world’s oldest tree may be growing in a lush green forest in Chile, South America. The study found that an ancient alerce tree known as 'great grandfather' could be more than 5 000 years old.
Reuters reported that scientists were unable to determine an exact age based on tree rings due to the tree's massive trunk. Normally, a 1-metre cylinder of wood is extracted to count tree rings, but the great grandfather's trunk has a diameter of 4 meters.
Determining the age of any tree is a simple enough process. A one-year cycle is comprised of a light pale wood that grew at the start of the year and a dark wood that grew at the end of the year. When a tree is cut, you will notice alternating light and dark wood rings. Count the dark rings, and you will get the tree's age.
Lead study scientist, Jonathan Barichivich, said that by using an extracted sample along with other dating methods, the team was able to determine that the approximate age of the tree is around 5 484-years-old.
"This method tells us that 80% of all possible growth trajectories give us an age of this living tree greater than 5 000 years," Barichivich said.
"There is only a 20% chance that the tree is younger," he said.
The estimated age would beat the current record-holder, a 4 853-year-old bristlecone pine tree in California, by more than 500 years.
"If one compares it with the trees already dated where we count all the rings, it will make it one of the oldest living trees on the planet," Barichivich said.
When this tree began to grow, humans were just about stepping out of the Stone Age and into the Bronze Age. Barichivich is concerned about the tree's prominence in the Alerce Costero National Park. Visitors often leave the observation platform, step on the tree's roots, and even take pieces of its bark, he said.
He said that similar trees in the US have their location hidden to prevent similar damage.
Barichivich said he hoped people could "think for a fraction of a second about what it means to live 5 000 years," and put their lives and the climate crisis into perspective.