Author: Matthew Taub / Source: Atlas Obscura
These are unpredictable times for Earth’s biggest organisms. A 90-acre fungus in Michigan has been growing and now, researchers say, a grove of 47,000 genetically identical trees in Utah has been shrinking.
That would be Pando, the Trembling Giant of Fishlake National Forest.
Because all of its trees are genetic clones, it is considered a single organism, and at nearly 7,000 tons is Earth’s most massive living thing. “Pando” is Latin for “I spread,” but maybe it doesn’t any more. As The New York Times explains, new saplings don’t appear to be replacing older trees as they die off, thanks in large part to the mule deer, elk, and cattle that have been steadily eating away at the “forest of one tree.” Aerial photos…The post Mule Deer Are Eating Away at the Most Massive Living Thing in the World appeared first on FeedBox.