Pando, an enormous quaking aspen that spans more than 100 acres (40 hectares) in Utah, is not only one of the largest known organisms on Earth — it's also one of the oldest, scientists have discovered.
New research finds that the aspen (Populus tremuloides), which reproduces clonally through shoots called ramets, is between 16,000 and 80,000 years old. The oldest non-clonal organism on Earth is Methusalah (Pinus longaeva), a bristlecone pine in eastern California that is 4,856 years old. The age estimate for Pando is based on the mutation rate over time in the aspen's genome. The study is not yet peer-reviewed and has been posted on the preprint website bioRxiv.
