As far as is known
African elephants are the largest animals on land
Adult male African elephants are 3–4 meters tall
The weight is 6-8 tons, and the large one can exceed 10 tons
People and even cars seem very small in comparison
African elephant
Blue whales are the largest animals in the sea
It is also considered to be the largest animal on Earth
There are the largest blue whales on record
It is over 33 meters long
Weighs nearly 180 tons
That's the equivalent of two dozen African elephants
126-year-old blue whale skeleton
Exhibited at the British Museum of Natural History
Blue whales and elephants are relative to humans
It's already a behemoth
But
Compared to the following creatures
They're just "small things see big things"
General Sherman Tree
Volume: 1487 m³
Mass: about 2800 tons
California, USA
Sierra Nevada
It is the place of origin of Giant Sequoia (commonly known as "World Master").
Giant sequoia can live for thousands of years
It grows at a very narrow altitude range
It is between about 1400 meters and 2200 meters
Here in the American Fir National Park
There is a General Sherman tree
It is the largest single tree in the world
Its height is 83.8 meters
The maximum diameter of the bottom is 11.1 meters
The age of the tree is about 2300-2700 years old
Although it is not called "the highest" and "the widest"
But its volume of 1487 cubic meters
Ranked first in the world
The weight is estimated at about 2800 tons
That's the equivalent of a dozen blue whales
The name of this giant fir
Originated during the American Civil War
In honor of General Sherman, who won the battle at that time
Hence the name
There are some similar ones nearby
General Grant Tree
Due to the lack of awareness of development and logging in the past
as well as being affected by fire
Today, giant sequoia is an endangered species
February 2006
The General Sherman tree had a large branch broken
Out of thin air
The radius is more than 2 meters and the length is more than 30 meters
It was already thicker than a normal tree
Fortunately, there were no casualties
"Pando" trembled the poplar tree
Area: approx. 43 hectares
Mass: about 6000 tons
Utah in the western United States
Inside the Colorado Plateau on Fish Lake National Forest Reserve
There is a forest of tremors called "Pando"
"Shudder" stems from the special shape of the leaves
Even if the breeze blows
It can also make the woods look trembling
Also known as "Trembling Giant"
Don't look at this as a tree
Nothing special
Actually this big forest
All growth rhythms are exactly the same
Green leaves in summer, golden yellow in autumn
Uniform
Because they're all "one tree."
It is a true solitary forest
Pando has more than 40,000 trunks
It covers an area of 43 hectares
It looks like a complete forest
The reason why it can be regarded as a "single organism"
Based on so many tree trunks
All share a root system
According to the test, their DNA is exactly the same
It is all made from the same male poplar tree asexually reproduced
Its root systems are interconnected
Constantly expanding itself
Its name is "pando"
Derived from Latin
Meaning "I'm expanding"
The roots of the "Pando" poplar tree are connected to each other
The tremor poplar tree is through its massive root system
Expand in all directions
Reach a certain distance
Ensure that different trunks can get enough sunlight and nutrients
Just germinate the saplings and grow upwards
This condition is also known as "splitting plants"
And from a seed to this forest
Scientists estimate that it took at least 80,000 years
"Pando" trembled the range of poplar forests
But Pando is facing a recession crisis
The growth rate of new saplings and trunks
Can't keep up with the speed at which old trunks are dying
It's like an aging society
Also due to local over-hunting of wolves
This leads to a large breeding of black-tailed deer
As a result, the new saplings were bitten by a large number of black-tailed deer
Add to that drought and pest infestation
The ecological balance of the Pando poplar forest is at stake
At present, the local quarantine area has been demarcated
Protect Pando
It's a matter of making amends
Meldyclus ausces
Area: approx. 890 hectares
Mass : approx. 6000 tons
Usually the impression of the fungus
They are very small
However we were able to see the ground part
It's really just the tip of the iceberg
The aerial parts of a fungus or mushroom are called fruiting bodies
It consists of a cap and a stalk
The underground part is mycelium
It may occupy an extremely large soil
Scientist at the United States Forest Service in 1998
Oregon in the northwestern United States
Discovery of Auschola ostoyae
It covers an area of about 890 hectares
Scientists consider this to be a monomer:
Honey ring bacteria first reproduce by way of asexual reproduction
Divides asexual spores and spreads everywhere
These spore that split off grow into independent colonies
It has exactly the same genes as the original honey ring fungus
Can be thought of as a clone
And its hyphae have the ability to fuse with each other
Different honey ring bacteria individuals grow independently though
But when they meet hyphae that are genetically identical
Will try to merge with each other
Each individual colony is then connected into one piece
Honey ring fungus
Although honey ring bacteria are very large
But even if you come here
You're also hard to detect
Because they mostly appear as long, thick rhizome cords
Spread in trees, on the land
These rhizome cords
It is a mycelium arranged in parallel with the hyphae
The outer layer consists of thick-walled cells forming a hard cortex
Looks a bit like a tree root
These rhizome cords tend to parasitize trees
It draws nutrients from the trees
Cause damage to trees
Rhizophores of Honey ring fungus
Say something that everyone cares about:
Honey ring fungus can be eaten
Nutritious and delicious
As for why such a large honey ring fungus was not eaten
Maybe it's because American foodies don't know how to buy goods
In addition, there are views
A larger area of Melabeuca is present in Washington State
It is estimated to cover an area of nearly 4,500 hectares
However, there is currently insufficient research
Actually, all over the world
There may be a similar or even larger single organism
Still to be discovered
bamboo
Area: Unknown
Quality: Unknown
Bamboo is seen as the basis for monolithic organisms
It is somewhat similar to poplar and honey ring fungus
On the surface of the earth, although it is a separate bamboo
But underground
Many bamboos developed from the same bamboo whip
Bamboo whip
Bamboo is a perennial plant
It belongs to the family Poaceae
Although it looks a bit like a tree
But it doesn't have rings
In fact, it is closely related to plants such as dogtail grass, rice, and wheat
Think of it as a huge, stout "grass."
Its rhizomes develop horizontally underground to a certain extent
Then grow upwards buds, that is, bamboo shoots
So bamboo on the ground
Usually not an independent living entity
Several bamboo trees and even a bamboo forest are
The bamboo is like a lush grass
Or a branch that grows on a tree
So some varieties of bamboo bloom when they bloom
It is often a whole piece open together
And will die in sync afterwards
After the bamboo grows
It will photosynthesize into synthetic nutrients
A network of bamboo whips that are transmitted back underground
Feed Hsinchu with nutrients
Thus rapidly expanding, growing, and spreading
Further seize the sunshine and soil
Other single plants
It is difficult to compete with the growth mode of bamboo
Thus under the bamboo forest
Vegetation diversity is often scarce
Will a large sea of bamboo actually be a monolithic organism?
Bamboo forests are measured as monomers
There are no clear conclusions
But from the perspective of the growth and expansion mechanism of bamboo
It is not excluded that there are large bamboo forests
Possibility of belonging to biological individuals
Posidonia seagrass
Area: Stretching 8 km
Euro-Mediterranean
It grows a total area of 5 million hectares
Or oceanic neptune grass
This is in the area of the Balearic Islands in eastern Spain
There is a seagrass that stretches for 8 km
It is formed through asexual reproduction
Clones of identical genes
It is estimated that there are about 100 million bushes of leaves
It is connected by underground rhizomes
It has grown for about 100,000 years
Perhaps the oldest living creature on Earth
Posidonia seagrass is of great significance to the ecological environment
Compare by the same volume
Carbon dioxide uptake by Bosidonia seagrass
It is 15 times the size of the Amazon forest
It also preserves deposits, filters particles, and prevents beach erosion
It plays a role in purifying seawater
Schools of fish often swim among them
Therefore, it is known as the "lung of the Mediterranean"
However, even if it is large, strong, and ancient
The Positronian seagrass is now also endangered
Scientists speculate
It could be global warming in recent decades
Temperatures in the Mediterranean are rising
This causes seagrass areas to shrink at a rate of about 5% per year
And there's also a fir leaf fern from Monaco
It thrives in large quantities in the Mediterranean
Squeezing the living space of The Bohedonia seagrass
The vastness and wonder of nature
From these ancient, great beings
This is evident
Look at the existence of human beings
But just a few hundred thousand years
And the knowledge is still very limited
Face nature
Respect and humility should always be felt
Resources
The largest living thing on earth is a humongous fungus, Nic Fleming, 2014，BBC
Cow-Bombing the World’s Largest Organism，Andy Kerr，2019，Rewilding
topic
What other living behemoths do you know?
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The above unspecified pictures are from Visual China and the Internet
Edit / Dog