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In Honor Of Arbor Day, Here Is A Picture Of The Oldest Known Tree On Earth

Apr 25, 2014, 23:18 IST

© Rachel Sussman

This 9,550-year-old Spruce tree is the oldest single tree in the world. It is located on Fulufjället Mountain in Sweden. The tree was discovered by Lief Kullman, a professor at Umeå University, who nicknamed it Old Tjikko, after his late dog.

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Tjikko is considered the oldest known living clonal tree. There are however many examples of older clonal colonies of trees, which are a series of trees with a common root system and identical DNA.

Tjikko has stayed alive for so long because of a process called "vegetative cloning." When the trunk of Old Tjikko dies, the root system stays alive and sprouts a new trunk. Most trunks of the tree live for hundreds of years.

Andrew Petro/FlickrAn example of a tree in a "krummholz" formation.

The tree was photographed by Rachel Sussman, who has been documenting the oldest living things on Earth for the last decade. Her work is now collected in a book released last week.

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Sussman calls the tree "a portrait of climate change" because of how it has changed in recent years. For thousands of years, the tree appeared in a stunted shrub formation called a "krummholz" formation, due to the harsh environment. In a krummholz formation, the tree appears twisted, stunted, and deformed, to protect itself from strong, freezing winds.

Over the last century, the tree has sprouted a tall spindly trunk, caused by higher temperatures in the area. Many have attributed the temperature changes to climate change.

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