Is this the Oldest Living Organism on Earth?

When out for a hike I had the pleasure of tracking down one of the gentle ancient beings of our planet. A tree that has managed to live through a process called clonal layering for almost 9500 years making it one of the oldest organisms on Earth.

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ABOUT OLD RASMUS
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Old Rasmus is a Norway spruce and it lives on a hillside in Sweden. I will not be sharing its exact location for the tree's safety as we all know how bad people can be. I find this to be an inspiring example of nature's resilience and ingenuity. This is why I want to restore and protect as much of the natural world as possible.

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SOURCES
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[v.e.]

When the West Coast of the US was first explored, at the very heart of the redwood forrest they found a gigantic redwood tree - perhaps the oldest living organism on the planet at that time - and cut it down. Over 300ft tall and quite possibly over 2000 years old, it took men three weeks to cut through the trunk of this Mother of all trees. Never understand why man's first instinct is to destroy!?!

[limbodog]

We may well have jellyfish that are effectively immortal too. Tho' I suspect their environment is less forgiving.

[Eagz]

i really like when people keep locations secretish like this if your really really wanna see it you can and when you finally find it it will be super satsfiying and no dumbass troll that wants to destroy it will go through that effort

[nevilleburley]

I love the old remnant trees that are found. One of the oldest though is the Wollemi Pine here in Australia that date back over 90 million years old as it clones itself to replicate. They are only found in a valley in New South Wales and were not discovered all that long ago. Another member of the Araucariaceae family like the Bunya pine and Norfolk Island pine but a completely different reproduction method. The trees are being saved by reproducing them and selling them through nurseries over here therefore meaning the ones in the wild are left alone.

[RicardoVanHouten]

Its good that you mention that the location is not gonna be told because of people destroying it or taking it as a trophy, i really like the "mossy earth" the things you guys do is amazing keep up the good work!

[vermicelledecheval]

Interesting but I'm more impressed by Methuselah which is the same living organism since 4853 years. And there is through offshoot a Poseidonia oceanica that lives since more than 10000 years... Nature is fascinating. 🌲🌴🌵🌾

[toorimakun]

From what I understand of a lot of newer trees is they have become vulnerable to sickness and insects that they weren't vulnerable to before - not sure how wide spread this problem is, but is a problem for some plants at very least.

If we know how to for this tree, it might be a good idea to try and get small samples of it to grow more trees from and/or graft some of its branches to newer trees in different areas to spread its old gene pool around more.

[Yrratec]

As a 9500 year old tree myself I can confirm that this video is accurate

[j-b-l]

Just about every local mallee tree species in Western Australia has the capibility to live for thousands of years, due to the large mallee root that is buried below the surface, its like a big tuber made of wood that can get as big as a small car sometimes.

Since the Australian bush relies on burning to continue living, the local plants have different ways of surviving.
some have seed pods that require extreme heat to open and let the seeds drop onto the nutrient rich and uncontested ash in the fires wake.

Mallees simply burn to the ground and then sprout from the root once more.

[brianbassett]

It's a safe bet that if "we" know about it... it's not the oldest organism on Earth, just the oldest we know of.

[herbertfawcett]

It's a clonal tree, so you better get familiar with the quaking aspens of western North America which have populations older than that!

[Heinrich]

I have actually been to a tree not to far away from old rasmus which is older. Old tjikko

[Deckzwabber]

Look at it the other way around: our species has changed from barely using more complicated tools than chimpanzees to landing on the moon, within the lifespan of one particularly old tree.

[Bismarck-S]

Before I watch the video: This is in Sweden in Dalarna I think, if I'm not mistaken

[amandahugginkiss]

Here’s to hoping in makes it another 9, 500 years. Should be the 8th wonder of the world, absolutely amazing

[bigswede]

Old tjikko is a bit older. Also in Sweden just a over in the next county from were i live.

[Saucyakld]

Amazing! We have Kauri trees that predate humans coming to New Zealand.

[jackb]

Very cool video, and so well said at the end! Truly wrapped up and made the vid. Keep it up 👍🏻

[tonethymcbuttox]

actually, if you'd like to get technical, there is an aspen grove in southern utah which is estimated to have first sprouted 87000 years ago and it has been growing new sucker trees ever since. it is one organism, but it has thousands of stems and spans 106 acres. it is called pando.

[TheVideoful]

Amazing. Thanks for that story. Have you tried to multiply this tree? Good genes.