This 2,400 Year Old Mushroom Is The Largest Living Organism On The Planet
Nature's surprises for us are countless. The largest living thing on Earth is a mushroom: Armillaria Ostoyae. It covers an area of 890 hectares, most of its mass is underground and is therefore unknown. Its age is estimated between 2400 years and 8000 years.That’s one giant mushroom, folks! It’s not the Blue Whale. In fact, it has a total weight of more than 20 Blue Whales, and here’s a hint: Alice would be proud.
The Honey Mushroom organism is however rather insidious. Spreading out its filaments through the root structure of the coniferous forest and inserting itself into the very body of the tree, Armillaria is a parasite. It will take years for the tree to die while the Humongous Fungus feeds it's life away. The expanse of the forest and the stable environment has enabled the fungus to spread as far as it has. (The Honey Mushroom / via Nick Fischer / OPB) The largest concentration of "Humongous Fungus" takes up 3.5 square miles of Malheur National Forest and is still growing. An individual organism can be classified as "a being has a set of cells that are genetically identical and communicate with each other". This giant fungus fits the bill, and extensive DNA testing has proven this is the largest single living organism in the world. Regarding efforts to potentially save the forest from being ravaged, Dan Omdal, with the Washington Department of Natural Resources told Oregon Public Broadcasting in 2015, "Remember, it's the baddest fungus on the block. We're looking for a tree that can grow in its presence. It's foolish to plant the same species where you harvested in areas that are infested by the disease." Different species of trees including Doug fir, western larch, and white pine are currently being studied to see if one can possibly tolerate the fungus without dying. Or, we can simply view armillaria ostoyae as part of our ever-changing ecosystem, allowing trees to rot and die, which in turn creates habitat for birds and insects.
