Antonio Lara, a researcher at Chilean Center for Climate Science and Austral University, recently announced that a Patagonian cypress located in the southern forest of Los Rios is set to replace Methuselah, the 4,850-year-old bristlecone pine in California, USA as the oldest tree on the planet. This giant tree has been around for more than 5,000 years and can be found at the edge of a ravine, roughly 800km south of Santiago. In the past, when news of this ancient cypress spread, it quickly became a famous tourist attraction. Even today, many tourists are willing to trek through the forest just to get a picture with “the oldest tree in the world”.
As the demand for visits to forests rises, the national forestry agency is taking measures to conserve the natural environment by adding more forest rangers. These rangers are tasked with keeping strict control over visitor access to ensure that the forests remain protected and undisturbed.
Back in ’72, Anibal Henriquez was out and about patrolling the forest when he stumbled upon this majestic tree. Fast forward a few years and his nephew, Jonathan Barichivich, is now one of the many experts studying it. By using a neat trick to predict the tree’s age, Barichivich estimated that it’s most likely over 5,000 years old with an 80% chance of being right. He’s eager to share his findings with the world once he’s done crunching all the numbers.
