Up until recently, the record-holder was the “Methuselah” bristlecone pine in California’s White Mountains, which has been dated as 4,852 years old, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. However, a contender from another hemisphere is coming for its crown: an alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) in Chile known as the Gran Abuelo or great-grandfather tree.
“It’s a tree that’s very, very close to our hearts,” Jonathan Barichivich, the Chilean environmental scientist behind the claim, told Science.
The alerce, also known as a Patagonian cypress according to National Geographic, is a species of tree native to Chile and Argentina with a reputation for being the second longest-lived species of tree after the bristlecone pine. This specimen in particular is located in a ravine in Chile’s Alerce Costero National Park and is more than four meters (approximately 13 feet) wide, Science reported. It also stretches 196 feet into the air, according to Live Science.
Barichivich used a unique method to determine the tree’s age, Science reported. First, he used an increment borer to extract a sample of the wood without harming the tree and counted around 2,400 rings. Then, because the sample did not reach the tree’s center, he used models to estimate the tree’s age.
The result? The tree was likely 5,484 years old and had an 80 percent chance of being more than 5,000 years old, surpassing Methusala.
