3,000-year-old trees discovered in Tanzania

DAR ES SALAAM: IN a stunning botanical breakthrough, scientists have discovered a colossal tree species in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains that may be up to 3,000 years old and has never been documented before.

Named Tessmannia princeps, this towering rainforest giant stands as one of the oldest and tallest trees in the tropics, hidden in remote, cloud-covered valleys far from human settlements.

Its discovery has amazed researchers, as even local botanists had never encountered it.

With only about 100 mature individuals found so far, the tree is already being considered for protection due to its rarity and ecological importance.

The discovery was made by Andrea Bianchi, a horticulturist from the Muse Science Museum in Trento, Italy, along with Tanzanian scientists during a 2019 expedition.

While mapping plant life in the Uluti and Boma la Mzinga reserves, the team encountered a towering graybarked tree unfamiliar to all experts present.

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Follow-up surveys revealed that the species was entirely new to science, confined to just two steep valleys between 4,200 and 5,000 feet above sea level.

Its limited range makes it especially vulnerable to climate change and human disturbance. Conservationists are now urging rapid habitat protection to ensure its survival for future generations. How tall and how old are these giants?

Some of the largest Tessmannia princeps trees reach heights of 130 feet, with trunk diametres of nearly 9 feet and massive buttresses extending several feet into the ground.

By analysing the growth rings on a fallen trunk, researchers found up to 15 rings per centimetre, an incredibly slow growth rate suggesting the oldest specimens may be as much as 3,000 years old.

These trees now stand among Earth’s most ancient living organisms, comparable to California’s bristlecone pines and giant sequoias.