The Biggest Tree on Earth is Bigger Than Words Can Describe

Bright Side

Have you seen the biggest tree on Earth? This towering giant sequoia stands as a testament to the enduring power of nature. With its colossal size and ancient presence, the Sherman Tree commands reverence from all who behold it. At the heart of California's Sequoia National Park, this majestic specimen is believed to be one of the oldest living organisms on Earth, having witnessed centuries of history unfold. Its massive trunk, adorned with rugged bark and towering branches, serves as a living chronicle of time itself.   Credit: CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0: General Grant Tree: By Alen Ištoković, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54232207 CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0: Bottom of General Grant: By daveynin, https://flic.kr/p/HeALFS General Grant Tree: By Jeremy Thompson, https://flic.kr/p/N4x1f8 CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/: Tree of Life Bahrain: By Alawadhi3000, Hekerui, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24407096 Krzywy Las: By Rzuwig, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19465240 CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0: El Gran Abuelo: By Yiyo Zamorano, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80015376 Fritzroya Cupressoides: By Gonzalo Zúñiga Solís, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79700542 Bahrain Tree of Life: By Zairon, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97615804 Tree of life at night: By Desmondgomez, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=111868360 Glowing tree of life: By Desmondgomez, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=111869430 Bahrain Tree of Life 19: By Zairon, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97615817 Bahrain Tree of Life 14: By Zairon, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97615808 Vida en un alerce milenario: By Fjprobos, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70144521 CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0: Pinus longaeva-Great Basin Bristlecone Pine: By Laura Camp, https://flic.kr/p/p6TZ7q Animation is created by Bright Side.  #brightside   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Listen to Bright Side on:  Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960  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

Transcript

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!

08:24So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your

08:29friends!

08:30Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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