Multiple choice general knowledge history

The world's oldest individual living tree ?

  1. Pando

  2. Prometheus

  3. Old Tjikko

  4. Methuselah
Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
C Correct answer
Explanation

Old Tjikko, a Norway Spruce in Sweden, is approximately 9,550 years old and is recognized as the world's oldest living individual tree (based on its root system). Pando is a clonal colony (not individual), Prometheus was cut down in 1964, and Methuselah is a bristlecone pine around 4,850 years old. Old Tjikko's age is determined through carbon dating of its root system.

AI explanation

Old Tjikko, a Norway spruce in Sweden, is commonly cited as the world's oldest known individual living tree because its root system has been dated to roughly 9,500 years old, even though the visible trunk regenerates and is much younger. Methuselah, a bristlecone pine, is the oldest known tree by continuous trunk age (about 4,850 years) but is younger than Old Tjikko's root system, and Pando and Prometheus refer to a clonal colony and a now-dead tree, respectively.

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