Sound artist eavesdrops on what is thought to be world’s heaviest organism

Pando is made up of 47,000 genetically identical quivering aspens, which are considered to be a single organism, with the ‘trees’ actually branches thought to be connected by a shared root system. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

When it comes to the world’s heaviest living organism, it is a “forest of one tree” that is thought to take the crown. Now a sound expert is listening into the quiet grove in an attempt to hear its secrets.

Known as Pando – Latin for “I spread” – the 47,000 genetically identical quivering aspens in south-central Utah are considered to be a single organism, with the “trees” actually branches thought to be connected by a shared root system.