[TICKING].
[ALARM].
[FIREWORKS].
♪♪
CHARLIE: WHAT’S UP GUYS?
I’M CHARLIE.
LAST SUMMER, MY FRIENDS KIRBY, PATRICK AND I WENT TO
FISH LAKE NATIONAL FOREST IN UTAH, TO HANG OUT,
HAVE A GOOD TIME, ENJOY SOME NATURE,
BUT ALSO TO FIND THE LARGEST LIVING ORGANISM
IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
ALRIGHT, TRY TO THINK OF THE LARGEST LIVING ORGANISM
IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
PAT: A GIANT SQUID.
KIRBY: ELEPHANTS.
PAT: A BLUE WHALE?
KIRBY: DINOSAURS…
CHARLIE: ARE DEAD NOW, BUT THEY WERE PRETTY BIG AND
ALIVE AT SOME POINT IN TIME.
ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE PRETTY BIG, BUT NO,
THE LARGEST LIVING THING IN THE WORLD IS A TREE.
PAT: LIKE A GIANT SEQUOIA.
KIRBY: YEAH, LIKE MY BOY GENERAL SHERMAN OUT IN CALIFORNIA.
CHARLIE: SEQUOIAS ARE PRETTY HUGE,
BUT THE LARGEST LIVING THING IN THE WHOLE WORLD IS ACTUALLY
IN UTAH, IT’S THIS GUY RIGHT HERE, HE’S A TREE,
AND HIS NAME IS PANDO.
BUT OBVIOUSLY THAT’S NOT ALL OF PANDO.
THIS IS ALSO PART OF PANDO.
SO IS THIS GUY, SO IS THIS ONE.
THESE GUYS OVER HERE AND THAT ONE.
THAT ONE, AND SO IS THIS ONE.
PRETTY MUCH ALL OF THIS KIND OF TREE IN THE
SURROUNDING 106 ACRES MAKE UP ONE ORGANISM,
AND HIS NAME IS PANDO, AND HE IS MASSIVE.
YOU SEE, PANDO IS A QUAKING ASPEN TREE,
AND THEY REPRODUCE A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY
THAN OTHER TREES OUT THERE.
MOST TREES MAKE MORE TREES BY FIRST CREATING TINY FLOWERS
THAT GET POLLINATED AND FORM SEEDS,
WHICH LATER GERMINATE AND GROW INTO OTHER TREES.
BUT QUAKING ASPENS, LIKE PANDO,
PREFER A DIFFERENT METHOD.
THEY REPRODUCE CLONAL-LY.
SO, A SINGLE QUAKING ASPEN TREE HAS A
PRETTY MASSIVE ROOT SYSTEM.
EVERY SO OFTEN, THOSE ROOTS SHOOT UP
AND CREATE ANOTHER TREE.
THIS CAN HAPPEN OVER AND OVER AND OVER UNTIL
YOU GET ENORMOUS SYSTEMS OF TREES, LIKE THIS ONE.
ALL OF THESE TREES ARE GENETICALLY IDENTICAL.
THEY HAVE THE EXACT SAME DNA, CHANGE COLORS AT THE EXACT
SAME TIME IN THE FALL, AND HAVE THE SAME BRANCHING
PATTERN, SO PEOPLE REFER TO THEM AS CLONES.
SO ALL OF THESE TREES STARTED OUT A LONG TIME AGO
FROM ONE SINGLE SEED.
AND THE AMAZING THING IS, THAT EVEN THOUGH THERE
LOOKS LIKE THERE’S THOUSANDS OF TREES AROUND HERE,
THEY’RE ALL INTERCONNECTED THROUGH ONE ROOT SYSTEM,
SO WE CAN THINK OF THEM TOGETHER AS ONE,
SINGLE ORGANISM.
IT MIGHT BE EASIER TO THINK ABOUT PANDO AS JUST ONE
GIANT ROOT SYSTEM, THAT’S THE MAIN PART OF THE ORGANISM,
AND EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE IT JUST SHOOTS UP ANOTHER ARM,
WHICH IS A TREE GROWING OUT OF THE GROUND.
MOST QUAKING ASPENS SPREAD AROUND AN AREA
OF ABOUT 1 TO 20 ACRES.
BUT OUR BUDDY PANDO HERE IS ABOUT 106 ACRES.
SHOOTING UP A WHOPPING 50,000 TREE TRUNKS AND
WEIGHING IN AT APPROXIMATELY 13 MILLION POUNDS.
WHICH IS ABOUT THE SAME WEIGHT AS 6,500 GIANT SQUIDS,
867 AFRICAN ELEPHANTS, 32.5 BLUE WHALES
OR 3 GENERAL SHERMAN’S.
MAKING IT THE LARGEST LIVING THING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD.
IT HAS MORE DRY MASS THAN ANYTHING ALIVE,
ON THE EARTH, RIGHT NOW.
DRY MASS IS KEY HERE, BECAUSE THERE ARE SOME MYCOLOGISTS
WHO MIGHT CLAIM THAT A FUNGAL MAT IN OREGON IS
ACTUALLY THE LARGEST LIVING THING IN THE WORLD,
AND THEY’RE RIGHT, THAT FUNGAL MAT IS ABSOLUTELY HUGE.
BUT, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT DRY MASS HERE,
WHICH EXCLUDES WATER, AND IN THIS CATEGORY,
PANDO KIND OF GETS FIRST BY A LONG SHOT.
THE COOL THING ABOUT REPRODUCING CLONAL-LY,
IS THAT IT ALLOWS TREES TO LIVE FOR A REALLY LONG TIME.
SOME PEOPLE HAVE ESTIMATED THAT PANDO
IS AROUND 80,000 YEARS OLD.
WHICH IS CRAZY, I MEAN HE LOOKS SO SPRITE AND YOUNG,
YOUNG AND CHIPPER AS EVER, DOESN’T HE?
COOL, COOL, BUT REALITY CHECK HERE, PANDO IS DYING.
HE’S LIVED FOR A REALLY LONG TIME,
AND UNFORTUNATELY HAS TAKEN QUITE A HIT.
THERE’S BEEN DISEASE, FIRE SUPPRESSION,
INSECT INFESTATION, AND DEER JUST EATING UP
ALL THE NEW SAPLINGS.
AND NOW, FOR WHATEVER REASON, THE OLD PARTS OF PANDO ARE
DYING AND THERE’S NOT A LOT OF NEW GROWTH TO REPLACE IT.
AND THE THING IS, NO ONE HAS REALLY ANY
IDEA WHY THAT’S HAPPENING.
SO WHILE FOREST RANGERS SCRAMBLE TO SAVE THIS BIG MAN,
WE’D LIKE TO LET HIM SHINE FOR THE LITTLE TIME HE HAS LEFT.
CONGRATULATIONS PANDO, YOU ARE A
“NATURE BOOM TIME” APPROVED PLANT.
[FIREWORKS]
