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Weekend


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October 4, 2002

Strange But True!

  • A weekly column of incidental information, off-the-wall observations and other random facts about the world.
    • By BILL SONES and RICH SONES, Ph.D.
    Special to the Journal

    Q. What's the oldest known living thing on Earth, and what can it tell us about ourselves and our planet?

    A. A bristlecone pine tree in the White Mountains of eastern California was cut down in 1963, at 4,844 years old, says University of Tennessee geographer Henri D. Grissino-Mayer. Currently, another bristlecone pine named "Methuselah" is 4,800 and counting. Foxtail pines, also of California, can live to about 3,600, giant sequoias 3,000.


     
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