Some Amazon Trees species are more than 8 million years old!?!

If you think your grandparents are old wait until you hear about this. Scientist have just found tree species in the amazon that are older than eight million years! That’s even more astonishing judging from the facts that humanity is a little under a million years old!

Estimated genetic ages of trees in the study. Photo by Rhett A. Butler
  • The amazon is the earth largest rainforest with two thirds lying within Brazil. This is important as Brazil has made a great commitment towards “cutting down” its deforestation rates.
  • A group of scientist from a series of colleges recently did a large amount of testing on a wide array of Amazonian trees, the results they found were completely amazing.
  • Nine of the species were 2.6 million years old, seven were 5.6 million years old, and three were more than 8 million years old!
  • This new information has a giant affect on the conservation of the Amazonian forests because it shows that these species have survived through drastic climate changes before, similar to the one we’re facing now.
  • These periods match the temperature scenario for the highest possible carbon emission estimate.
  • This means that the best possible way we can save these forests now is to make sure that nobody chops them down.
Canopy tree in Peru. Photo by Rhett A. Butler

 

Want to learn more? Read the full story at: Some Amazon trees more than 8 million years old

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