The 3 Reasons This Tree Has Lived 5000 Years

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Methuselah’s environment lacks nutrients, water, and oxygen. In other words, it’s the perfect place to grow very very old.
LEARN MORE
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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Great basin bristlecone pine tree: a species of pine tree that includes many of the longest-lived individual trees on Earth.
- Bark beetles: the common name for a subfamily of beetles that has destroyed millions of acres of forest across the Western United States.
- Terpenes: waxy chemicals that increase wood density in certain pine trees.
- Bark morphology: a trait of certain bristlecones in which strips of exposed wood extend up and down the tree, allowing them to pass nutrients even when other parts of the trunk have died.
- Dolomite: a type of rock high in magnesium and calcium that turns into extremely alkaline soils.
- Extremophile: an organism that is tolerant to environmental extremes.
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CREDITS
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David Goldenberg | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Lizah van der Aart | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music
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REFERENCES
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Bentz, Barbara (2022). Personal Communication. Research entomologist, US Forest Service. www.fs.usda.gov/research/abou...
Millar, Connie (2022). Personal Communication. Scientist emirata, US Forest Service. www.fs.usda.gov/research/abou...
Ababneh, L. (2006). Analysis of radial growth patterns of strip-bark and whole-bark bristlecone pine trees in the White Mountains of California: Implications in paleoclimatology and archaeology of the Great Basin. www.semanticscholar.org/paper...
Ross, A. (2020). The Past and Future of the Earth’s Oldest Trees. The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...
Karlamangla, S. (2022). In California, Where Trees are King, One Hardy Pine has Survived for 4800 years. New York Times. ​​www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/us...
Bentz, B.J., Hood, S.M., Hansen, E.M., Vandygriff, J.C. and Mock, K.E. (2017), Defense traits in the long-lived Great Basin bristlecone pine and resistance to the native herbivore mountain pine beetle. New Phytol, 213: 611-624. doi.org/10.1111/nph.14191
Waldo S. Glock (1970). Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains of California: Growth and Ring-Width Characteristics, Arctic and Alpine Research,2:3, 227-229. www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...
Pennisi, E. (2016). Greenland Shark may live 400 years, smashing Longevity Record. Science. www.science.org/content/artic...

[@AndyHappyGuy]

There was another Bristlecone called Prometheus which was actually older than Methuselah by about half a century. Unfortunately, they only discovered that after they cut down and killed Prometheus when one of the scientists couldn’t get a core sample from it.

[@aguyontheinternet8436]

ugh

[@AimlessSavant]

How fittingly tragic.

[@ontoya1]

'Earthlings cringe'

[@inactivechannel3004]

this just makes me hate us as a species even more, humanity is a parasite to earth. i wish we would go extinct

[@Sacc_the_bambaspis]

r. i. p. prometheus

[@KnightSlasher]

Can't imagine the life the tree has had staying alive for so long it has seen alot, hopefully it continues to last long

[@GwainSagaFanChannel]

Its good that this tree doesnt stand in netherlands some dutch morons decided it was a good idea to burn down our oldest tree

[@chronictimewasterdisease]

actually methuselah only died because it was chopped down so we could know how old it is

[@MinuteEarth]

that one was the prometheus tree!

[@logank444]

I wish I'm a tree in my next life or maybe a tube worm

[@SgtSupaman]

Except, as talked about in the video, the ones that live longest have seen the least. They live so long because they are separated from everything else, so all they've "seen" is the same boring landscape for a lot longer time.

[@TheaSvendsen]

Another thing to factor in is that it’s been spared from invasive species such as European earth worms, as they turn the soil into a more nutrient one. If the tree is perfectly adapted to a certain environment, then any disruption to that environment could be disastrous. If I recall correctly, this happened to the American redwood trees some place.

[@user-ge5ew1cw3r]

I genuinely thought that you'd say "European Colonizers" at the beginning of your sentence. well, both of them are pesky😆

[@Kahadi]

This is probably more for the animals with long lifespans, but wouldn't harsher conditions also reduce the number of threats to their existence, namely larger predators? Even for plants and trees it means fewer animals to feast on leaves and such, right?

[@MinuteEarth]

definitely!

[@johnnychang4233]

@@MinuteEarth Aren't any of the extremophile organisms that seldom outlive everything since eons poisonous? Otherwise there may be a chance encounter with a relative of a hungry bear and it would be catastrophic.

[@Computment]

@@MinuteEarth Im gay

[@Primalxbeast]

@Computment Nobody cares if you're gay anymore. If you aren't non-binary with some odd neopronoun, you're just a normie.

[@lolucorn1]

​@@Computmentok

[@NewMoonStarlight]

at 0:41, when the video notes the growth rate of the bristlecone pine, it should say 0.4 cm/yr rather than 0.04 cm/yr. Excellent video, I have often wondered why all the most exceptional age statistics come from extreme environments.

[@geisaune793]

There are small pockets of bristlecone pines in high altitude mountains all over the western US. I saw some when I went to Great Basin National Park. Even if I hadn't already known that they live thousands of years, just from the way they look I would've been able to tell that they were very old. It was fascinating looking at a whole grove of them and thinking about how many of them are older than Ancient Rome and some of them are as old as the Ancient Egyptians.

[@Xidnaf]

Loved this video! I think I noticed a tiny little error at 0:43? Wouldn't .15in be .4cm, not .04?

[@AtomicSource11]

Yes, aka 4mm

[@angelcosta4383]

Hi xidnaf! You're still alive? Greetings from Spain!

[@Computment]

Holy he is alive

[@ontoya1]

I was just literally just talking about the Greenland sharks like a couple of hours ago and for something that niche and random to come up randomly in the elusive Minute Earth's new video thumbnail is kind of eerie not gonna lie lol

[@vice.nor.virtue]

Ooooo magic!

[@TheDarkRizon]

Biology of Ageing is a very interesting topic. Did you know that there is a field of science studying this called biogerontology? It mainly researches the mechanisms of human ageing, age-related diseases and treatments that may be able to intervene in the process. The research is important as many untreatable disease such as cancer, Alzheimer, strokes etc. become more likely with age. If you would like to know more, the book 'Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old' by Dr Andrew Steele gives a good overview on what human ageing is and what research is going on.

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

I always thought of a stroke more like an injury than an illness. Like heart attacks or aneurysms.

[@TheDarkRizon]

@@Gr3nadgr3gory Yes, you are right. I don't know enough about what causes strokes, but it has something to do with the plaque build up in our veins. With age it becomes more noticeable and the immune cells that try to clean it up get stuck there as well, contributing to the build up. Finding a way to remove this plaque build up from our veins will likely contribute in us having a healthier circulatory system for longer. The idea behind the biology of ageing is to find the root causes which together create a complicated knock-on effect that slowly destroys the integrity of the systems in our body. The plaque build up may be caused by something else too.

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

@Rizon huh, didn't know it was a buildup of plaque. Most of what I know about strokes is because my step uncle had one a few years back. He's doing alright, but he still needs a special knife and other assistance.

[@TheDarkRizon]

@@Gr3nadgr3gory Ah, sorry to hear that! That's the reason why biology of ageing research should get more awareness, funding and skilled people of all kinds of disciplines. To prevent and repair such damages. I don't think it is right to say that we cannot do more or that such illnesses are just part of getting older. Technology and biological sciences are progressing really fast at the moment, I can't say how health care will look like in just ten years if there is a will to do better.

[@Gr3nadgr3gory]

@Rizon we might not be able to do much now, but blue baby syndrome was also incurable until a Genius physician found a way to operate on the hearts of infants. I have great hope for the future of medical technology. Especially with the advent of adult stem cell harvesting.

[@juancamilomaderoacero5305]

Very cool video, in my country there is a plant called Espeletia (Frailejon in Spanish) that also lives many years and grows in dificult conditions. So there is another example to show how good the research you guys do is.

[@vaibhavmishra2600]

So, only some sections of the 5000 year old bristlecone are alive?

[@mrsheldon9134]

Yeah. Most of it is just dead wood.

[@tonelamar3387]

7777'00000. Years old💀💀💀

[@BurrritoYT]

"We must cut the oldest tree to see how old it is" - Someone 2022

[@CamcorderHomeVideos]

Ok this is kinda funny, but I'd feel bad laughing at it.

[@boblangill6209]

@@FormerLeashKidAndProud It wasn't just some random dude. The story I saw said it was a research assistant who'd been tasked with determining its age. A man who has only a hammer is going to pound the sh*t out of everything.

[@sirsanti8408]

@@FormerLeashKidAndProudwell it was because a scientist couldn’t get a core sample and well nobody expects to have a tree you choose to be the oldest ever, and the trees aren’t super endangered I don’t think

[@thesilentone4024]

@@sirsanti8408 no there critically endangered mostly thanks to people.

[@jackhandma1011]

They should have just custom-made a longer device to determine it's age.

[@alonsosepulvedavega3774]

its interesting how different species adapt to their specific habitats, and overall to see that almost all plants that are able to hit 1k in their counter are conifers. they truly show how earth wouldve been a millenia ago. and just to stir the pot, the title to oldest tree is being contested by el gran abuelo, a patagonian cypress growing in alerce costero national park. one might think this place is also barren, but in fact is a temperate rainforest, one of the most productive ecosystems in chile, with a climate similar to redwood national forest in the us. vivan los árboles 🌱

[@blablup1214]

I thought the oldest living thing in the world would be a sponge, because there was a kind of sponge that was estimated to be 10.000 years old.... Wiki says : "Glass sponges found in the East China Sea and Southern Ocean have been estimated to be more than 10,000 years old. Although this may be an overestimate, it is likely that this is the longest lived animal on Earth."

[@BurrritoYT]

It's the legendary SpongeBob

[@MinuteEarth]

They're still collecting data about it (scientists thought it was extinct until recently!) but it may take the title if they can prove its age!

[@MinuteEarth]

you're in for a tree-t!

[@CapitanGreenhat]

And pando is around that age

[@aidanmahar5192]

@@CapitanGreenhat Pando is older than methuselah, when Methuselah is called the oldest living organism, it really means oldest non-clonal organism, which pando does not count as

[@decidingodin2518]

Original title: how suffering leads to longer life The oldest living guy on earth: DAMIT Another Year!

[@alcyone1349]

Never thought one day I'll be rooting for a tree I didn't even know the name of! Great video mate.

[@ThewOrldIssqUare]

2:40 "And here's something else that's extremely cool: we have made our own ✨️MOLECULES✨️" (how my brain first parsed this)

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

I thought that tree looked familiar. I saw that tree once, from a distance. The conditions defeated me before I could make it. My nose started bleeding in the dry air and literally did not stop bleeding until I descended the mountain.

[@LavenderLushLuxury]

Nice Great Science Topic, Guys

[@user-rt7yt7dm8w]

I HAVE FINISHED THE COURSE(I love it)

[@emilfalsarella4893]

So great

[@eliscerebralrecyclingbin7812]

Awesome

[@rohaniyer8957]

Spotted an error: 0:44 0.15 in is 0.4 cm, not 0.04 cm.

[@MinuteEarth]

d'oh! you're right!

[@DemPilafian]

@@MinuteEarth There's another error... using antiquated imperial units in a science video.

[@swagilyph]

What about when the lightning super heats the water in the tree isn't that what usually makes a tree explode when it's struck? Is there anything about the structure of Methuselah that would prevent that?

[@henrytang2203]

I'm guessing less water content means smaller steam explosion?

[@G.A.C_Preserve]

Internal boundary and thicker amour

[@ashtar3876]

Pretty good metaphor too

[@Qaos]

A video on Pando, which could be up to 14000 years old, would be interesting.

[@motaparatu]

There is a strange tree on the top of a mountain around here. It looks like one of those old trees. It is all gnarled and stuff, and it hasn't changed much in the 30 years I've been going up the mountain. (It is near the top of a ski lift.) Although the mountain can get over 10 feet of snow accumulation in the winter the tree is located in a spot where the wind prevents the snow from piling up. I wonder if it is a bristlecone pine.

[@andriypredmyrskyy7791]

I'm assuming Methuselah made a cameo in the game "the witness". I say "assume" because I don't have an easy way of verifying the apparent similarities.

[@expendablewater7474]

Really puts into perspective that 5000 years is not that long as we think it is.

[@BlueMonkey2008]

Nice

[@Randish]

Tree: IM A SURVIVOR IM NOT GONNA GIVE UP IM NOT GONNA STOP IM GONNA GO HARDRT

[@k9leoblaze394]

I love the little easter egg ya'll put in of Grant the pokemon XY gym leader climbing the mountain XD

[@electras1654]

Love it

[@Rajclaw]

Life is amazing

[@Reaper_Gripper69]

what do you use to edit videos

[@Kokice5]

nice

[@cartergonzalez2853]

The only reason I know what a bristlecone pine is is because in school i did a project on nevada and the bristlecone pine is the state tree of Nevada.

[@felbarashla]

Was totally confused by the changed thumbnail for a moment.

[@Sharpe94]

Old Tjikko in Sweden is twice the age of Methusulah..

[@geekjokes8458]

how do we calculate the age for those organisms? i know with trees it has to do with the number of rings they form each year, but if parts of them can die separately, i dont know how it would work and what about sharks? or the two leaf plants in the desert

[@Archer-hg9rw]

So basically avoid competition and don’t grow too much, also learn to survive where most can’t

[@craz2580]

Jellyfishes: "ARE YOU CHALLENGING ME???!!!"

[@sohampathak2480]

God, Methuselah has seen more things that most history books record in an edition

[@peterboginsky111]

Cool

[@Someone-hd4yj]

You know you are early when you get to see the title change, then change back into the original, and change again

[@Propain4eva]

That’s where Vaatu is locked up

[@jessegeigerjr.7498]

Random camper: I need some fire wood, hey look! A weird looking tree. don’t mind if I do…

[@brianpso]

It's funny how the latest research on longevity says that we have some mechanisms that work in a similar way. The harsher the conditions, the more our bodies prioritise staying alive as much as possible instead of reproducing

[@brokenacoustic]

*reads title* I'm Immortal!

[@ObeseMcDese]

give me *more* tree videos I NEED MORE please

[@thecourtjester1931]

Methuselah: I’m built different

[@WITCEAS]

What about that one asper tree that has 80,000 "trunks" that are all geneticly identical. Think it's around half a million years old or something?

[@screwaccountnames]

There‘s an asterisk at the start if the video that says *Non-clonal organism. I think that‘s how they exclude that.

[@WITCEAS]

@@screwaccountnames OK that makes sense.

[@SupaKoopaTroopa64]

There's also a contagious tumor which started out as part of a dog around 15,000 to 20,000 years ago, and is still growing and spreading to this day. By some definitions it is the oldest living thing.

[@WITCEAS]

I'm not sure anymore.

[@cerosis]

Dunno, it seems kinda lonely to live that long

[@MinuteEarth]

😢

[@CamcorderHomeVideos]

Methuselah Tree?

[@Deltexterity]

@@Topckrock tree's don't feel emotions? they don't have thoughts.

[@slavikvsvega]

There are many cures to loneliness. None to death.

[@taramaforhaikido7272]

@@Deltexterity How can you know if you're not a tree?

[@imchillingbro]

its the only tree that can say "back in my day"

[@dre3951]

1:40 - that basic fact ... got it

[@kianfranco2172]

So to live long live life in the edge

[@decidingodin2518]

What's with the title and picture change of the video?

[@jasonremy1627]

Sort of the opposite of "Live fast, die young"

[@andrewschort724]

Live slow, die never.

[@taramaforhaikido7272]

"Let's not be hasty now." Said a certain ent in lord of the rings.

[@DeathsHood]

Wasn't there a recent discovery of a tree in... Chile?... that's older than Methuselah?

[@navyntune8158]

Methuselah, the real life wise mystical tree

[@scientistx5717]

The Old Tree:..... I seen things things that should not be seen in my long life......

[@simmonsjoe]

You don't gotta live that long to see a lot. There were people who saw both the American Civil War and Yuri Grigaran.

[@REDSTONENOOB.]

2:42 why does this remind me of a raptor?

[@MCGeorgeMallory]

Good timber does not grow at ease, The stronger wind, the stronger trees. The further sky, the greater length, The more the storm, the more the strength. --Snippet of my favorite poem, author unknown.

[@stillthinking101]

The other secret to long life is to live in a place where humans don't usually go.

[@LOLHAXGUN]

and where human trash doesn't go

[@mihaleben6051]

0:03 oh so thats what the r pentomino is named after

[@SimpleA]

Help my ads are Duolingo and it's forcing my finger to downlo

[@Carl-Gauss]

Should have put vise mystical tree on the thumbnail

[@marquiniopinio]

I learned a new thing today: Brussel Sprouts love Pizza.

[@felixinvita6031]

0:42 The Bristlecone growth rate in centimetres is 0,4 cm/year not 0,04 cm/year

[@Kyleplaysgames567]

I've always wondered if plants can die of old age. There's a limit to how high they can grow. But once they reach that height, can they just live indefinitely?

[@reizinhodojogo3956]

at 0:41 the conversion ratio is wrong, inch to centimeter is 2.54:1 and the centimeter is smaller than the inch, when the inch should be 2.54 centimeters

[@bensoncheung2801]

🌵🌵🌵

[@gamefreak974]

We’ve bred plants to be larger so why not breed trees to be super huge and suck up a lot of co2

[@vice.nor.virtue]

i think we are already

[@leflamewolf]

Ok you've convinced me, when I reach my 60s or whatever I am going to move to an isolated area in the far north, I will live in the wild with nothing but the animals of the forest as my companions, and when I return to the rest of humanity, I will know all there is about the wild, and how to live for an eternity.

[@Jobor2]

Make a video about the oldest tree in the world

[@3FourFour5]

"once in a century fires" as a californian, i can confirm that these fies are not one in a century, but twice a decade

[@gearblue89]

so basically bristlecones are just built different

[@Soldier_Sprout]

In China, there is a 1400-year-old Ginkgo tree and it has been standing with no disruptions

[@teddyschannel9488]

It is the wise mystical tree

[@samwill7259]

I think I will be much too tired by the time I reach 70, but I wish them luck!

[@Handdesinfektion]

resume: stay away from people and fires. live long and happy

[@magshdz]

50 MINUTES!?!??

[@robynkolozsvari]

is there a particular reason California seems to have such extreme trees (giant sequoia - largest tree; coastal redwood - tallest tree; bristlecone pine - oldest tree)? or is it just historical/evolutionary/environmental chance?

[@Dragrath1]

It probably has to do with a combination of the conditions and the relatively late discovery by western civilization North American ecosystems are relatively complete compared to those in Eurasia and North Africa and most of Europe's remaining refugia for biodiversity are areas which are similarly relatively inaccessible to logging. European woodlands really are fragmentary at best as the soil ecology of forests has largely been driven to extinction by the collapse of forest ecosystems throughout Europe as the drive for lumber pushed Europeans further and further abroad after they cut down all the indigenous forests. If I recall correctly form the Hidden life of trees the closest functional/complete forest ecosystem to western Europe is in Poland with the so called "forests" of Europe being primarily tree plantations largely stocked with nonnative fast growing trees for lumber. In effect any similar ages trees in other Mediterranean climates as a general rule were cut down thousands of years ago to satiate lumber demands.

[@garethdean6382]

Oh dammit, you mean to tell me I'm gonna be here FOREVER?

[@DanielKolbin]

_moment_

[@Maelt_]

So basically: Be where no others are at all costs, be alone.

[@knate44]

So what your saying is I’m indestructible? Oh no, a slight stress change could easily… Indestructible!

[@Lupinstein]

1:40 I see what you did there

[@sethapex9670]

Why don't bristle cone pines live in large forests since these adaptations have given them enough time to reproduce?

[@notadrawer7261]

Yggdrasil Only me? Alright, joke fun for me tho

[@knapz665]

"How this tree..." and not one picture of the actual tree is shown. SMH

[@Paul-zh4no]

I like that bristle cone pine seeds eat pizza...1:39😊

[@masonkay7024]

Something more crazy sharks are older then tree’s

[@zippersocks]

Cute

[@juliav.mcclelland2415]

The secret to a long life is a lot of alone time. Introverts celebrate.

[@bigboymuslim9272]

The tree of wisdom is filled with wisdom, the only way blocking you from having accessing his wisdom is the language barrior. You must learn The Speech of Tree's for 50 years so you can talk to him...

[@Jeremeyclickbait]

What if we burn it?

[@Pokey-xx8yf]

bannya pine survived 60 milinyen ago now its still there

[@roach_but_roachier]

My great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather climbed this tree.

[@thanhtrungnguyenhuu6672]

Basically a shut-in tree