Last 12 months, the world’s tallest theme tree was discovered in Borneo. At almost 300 feet tall, it’s as tall as three blue whales stacked on top of one another.
The discovery was announced five months after what was previously regarded as the world’s tallest tropical tree, a 70-meter yellow meranti tree, was present in Malaysia.
Gregory Asner of the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University revealed the brand new record tree on the Heart of Borneo conference on November 10, 2016.
A tree belonging to the genus Shorea grows within the state of Sabah. It is impressive not only vertically, but its cover also reaches a diameter of 40 meters.
The record holder was spotted while Asner was mapping the Sabah forest using lidar technology on board an aircraft.
The Carnegie Air Observatory can image forests and map animal habitats, carbon stocks and tree cover biodiversity, using sensors to exactly measure tree elevation, architecture, chemical properties and species.
Asner then flew in a helicopter – funded by film director James Cameron and the United Nations Development Program – to get a first-hand have a look at the tree.
To his surprise, not only was this particular tree strikingly tall, nevertheless it was surrounded by other, barely smaller trees. These 50 trees all exceed the 294-foot mark achieved by yellow meranti in June.
“This tallest tropical tree and 49 runners-up is truly a phenomenal expression of the power of nature,” Asner told environmental news site Mongabay.
“Conservation needs inspiration, and the Bornean Jungle Rangers provide it. This discovery is a gift to science, to the people of Sabah and Borneo, and to the world.”
Dr Glen Reynolds, director of the Southeast Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, told the positioning: “Trees of this size and age simply don’t exist outside primary forest, which is why it’s so vital to guard the forests where these currently live rare giants.” ,’ he said.
Asner compared the 309-foot height to 6 times the dimensions of the sperm whale, which, with a median length of 500 feet, is the biggest toothed whale.
Asner now plans to go to all of the trees to conduct his own research and learn more concerning the species.
However, despite the trees’ impressive height, they continue to be smaller than the tallest non-tropical tree on Earth – the coast redwood in Redwood National Park in California, which reaches a height of 100 meters.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
