An aspen forest in Utah’s Fishlake National Forest is one of the largest and oldest single organisms on the planet. It may be 80,000 years old. It’s called “The Trembling Giant,” or Pando, which is Latin for “I Spread," and it consists of at least 40,000 trees, spread over 100 acres. The apens all share a single root system, and each tree is a clone of the other. Forestry experts say Pando has gotten smaller in the past half-century, in part due to a changing habitat caused by climate change. |

Pando is the largest tree in the world. Beneath this “forest” in Utah lies a root system that connects every single one of its 47,000 genetically identical “trees.” In other words, it’s not a forest at all—it’s one massive clonal organism. Venture to Utah’s Fishlake National Forest to get acquainted with Pando, the largest tree in the world. | Atlas Obscura

The pando tree colony in Utah is the largest and oldest known living organism in the world #space #astronomy #earth #nasa #science | Astro Alexandra