world news - 12.11.2007
World’s oldest trees grow in California
The oldest trees in the world grow in California National Park. The
park is located high up in the mountains, and even in summer it is
covered with a thick layer of snow.
The age of the pines is measured in
thousands of years, and the oldest of them, named Methuselah, is now
4,772 years old. This tree was found in 1953 by scientist Edmund
Schulman. The world fame almost killed the tree, as every visitors
tried to take a piece of bark or branch as a souvenir. The tree
suffered considerable damage, as it was open to the public, and had a
plaque on it attesting to its age. These days, the location of
Methuselah is kept top-secret. Employees of the national park and
scientists from California and Arizona universities who work here are
not only afraid of tourists. They are much more worried about
arsonists. Forest workers claim that studies have found another tree
which is even older then Methuselah, but they do not intend to give any
information about it out of fear of vandalism.
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