What is the oldest tree in the world?
Methuselah, a Great Basin bristlecone pine in California's White Mountains, is more than 4,800 years old: the oldest known individual tree with a counted age.
Going deeper
Its age was measured by counting tree rings in a core sample. Its exact location is kept secret to protect it from visitors and vandals.
Bristlecone pines survive in harsh, dry, cold places where they grow very slowly, and their dense wood resists rot and insects. Some clonal trees, where one root system keeps sprouting new trunks, are far older than any single trunk.