The world’s largest organism - Alex Rosenthal

Discover the world’s largest organism: Pando, an enormous and ancient quaking aspen, and find out how it became so huge.

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The largest animal in the world is the blue whale, which weighs a massive 150 metric tons. Even so, it’s not remotely close to being the largest organism by weight. That title goes to an organism so huge that it’s estimated to weigh the equivalent of 40 blue whales. So what is this behemoth? And… where is it? Alex Rosenthal shares the story of the enormous and ancient Pando.

Lesson by Alex Rosenthal, directed by Lisa LaBracio.

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[TristanSamuel]

I have a cat named Panda and he is pretty large. Should've named him Pando.

[darkiceking]

"Fought wars, domesticated animals, fought wars, created nations, made inventions and the internet, and made more ways to fight wars." Is very accurate to humans

[youtubeusername]

Narrator: "Don't get too attached to it"
Me: You don't tell me what to do
*gets eaten*
Me: Oh...okay...

[sambuddhamaitra]

Moral of the story: Cancel wars, preserve nature, bring about harmony

[ay-plvn]

“This is Goliath”
Me: I love him
“Don’t get too attached”
Me: oh-

[melodic_discord]

As a Utahan, one of my favorite things to do in the fall is to travel into the aspen forests and admire all of the beautiful leaves atop these tall slender trees. I'd be heartbroken if I wasn't able to do that anymore. When I first learned about Pando, I was ecstatic to know that the world's largest organism was literally in my back yard!

[ZOCCOK]

"Creation, Preservation, and Destruction is a Lifestyle"
- Probably Pando

[mintayza]

Wow I really really read that title wrong and was like "good for them??"

[harsh]

Ted Ed: Answering questions I asked when I was young.

[prasannank]

Fun Fact: The largest organism "by area" is Honey Fungus of Armillaria genus measuring 3.8 km across

[leahpersaud]

I love how many times he said "fought wars" 😅

[greenergrass]

I remember encountering a large patch of Aspens tree a few years back.
I vividly remember being creeped out how eerily smooth, pale, identical they all look.
Not to mention the surreal way they seem to be evenly space from each other.

[ksaipraneethreddy]

The majestic music, the curious voice and most importantly the obdurate will of pando in the game of survival, all these made me go through a different world while watching this.

[vartikamehta]

The animation is so wholesome. A moment of appreciation for the animators 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[itsnesi]

"but it may not survive us" is a sentence that makes me cry almost everytime

[jewelsgrl]

I’m surely not the only one to misread “organism” at first glance...

[megabilbo]

"There's always a bigger aspen" -Qui-Gon Jinn

[QuestionEverythingButWHY]

“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.”
― Kahlil Gibran

[Flicks_and_Pages]

"...but it may not survive us." This is more than just informing us what's the largest living organism. It's more than that. Save Pando💗

[Namingname]

This makes me want to cry. I am so proud to be a human considering our ancestors persevered despite all odds, but it turns out we can’t seem to stop hurting the beautiful planet and each other. Humans are beautiful creatures, but on a large scale, we are so terrifying.