THE LARGEST living thing on Earth is a single fungus known as Armillaria ostoyae . The discovery of this humongous fungus in 1998 which occupies approximately 2384 acres of soil in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon heralded a new record holder for the title of [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type=”show” ihc_mb_who=”2,3,5″ ihc_mb_template=”1″ ] world’s largest known organism. The fungus would encompass 1665 football fields. That’s how large it is! Based on estimates of growth rates, the fungus is estimated to be 2500 years old and weighs at least 400 000 kilograms as of 2018. If the fungus has spent some time being in stasis rather than growing, then it could possibly be as ancient as 8650 years making it among the oldest living organism too.
This fungus has a huge network of roots called mycelia which grows into trees and spreads under the bark. It starts with digesting the living wood and once the tree is dead, it continues feasting on the dead wood. Though it is not common to see much of the humongous fungus in the Malheur Forest in Oregon since most of its parts appear underground, what you can observe is the effects of the fungus on the trees. You can see the entire forests wiped out.
However, what pops up above the grown about once a year are the mushrooms that get produced around the base of infected or newly-killed trees. It is said that a combination of good genes and a stable environment has allowed the Armillaria ostoyae to continue creeping and existing over the past millennia. [/ihc-hide-content]
