Prometheus Tree Cut For Research

In 1964, a graduate student and personnel from the United States Forest Service cut down a Great Basin bristlecone pine known as Prometheus in Nevada for research purposes. Only after examining its growth rings did researchers realize the tree was at least 4,862 years old, making it the oldest known non-clonal tree ever recorded. Prometheus had been alive since long before the construction of the Egyptian pyramids. Its destruction sparked controversy and helped increase efforts to protect other ancient bristlecone pines from similar fates.

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