The World's Largest Organism Is Dying

[rangerrebew]

The World's Largest Organism Is Dying
By Tia Ghose, Associate Editor | December 6, 2017 11:31am ET


It's death by a thousand nibbles.

Pando, the world's largest living organism — and possibly its oldest — is being destroyed by the voracious appetite of mule deer.

Also known as the trembling giant, Pando is a colony of quaking aspen that spans 106 acres (43 hectares) of south-central Utah. Because of an explosion of deer in the area, new sprouts from Pando are eaten before they have a chance to mature, and the venerable organism is at risk of dying out altogether.

https://www.livescience.com/61116-mule-deer-are-eating-pando.html

[Fishrrman]

From the article:
"The reason is that mule deer, and occasionally cattle, are devouring the babies of the community before they have an opportunity to grow to maturity. The problem has been going on for decades, Rogers said.
"It's clear that nearly every sprout that comes up — they're technically called suckers — is eaten almost immediately as it comes out of the ground," Rogers said."

Simple solution:
Fence the whole area off.

[Frank Cannon]

Though Pando has often been called the oldest living organism on Earth (with some estimates claiming the stand is upward of 80,000 years old), dating techniques for the colony are so imprecise that no one can say for sure how old the grove is, Rogers said.

So basically this whole story is based on a lie. This tree could be a couple hundred years old.

[Joe Wooten]

From the article:
"The reason is that mule deer, and occasionally cattle, are devouring the babies of the community before they have an opportunity to grow to maturity. The problem has been going on for decades, Rogers said.
"It's clear that nearly every sprout that comes up — they're technically called suckers — is eaten almost immediately as it comes out of the ground," Rogers said."

Simple solution:
Fence the whole area off.

butbutbut.... That will not increase the budget for the environmental bureau next year......

[Cyber Liberty]

From the article:
"The reason is that mule deer, and occasionally cattle, are devouring the babies of the community before they have an opportunity to grow to maturity. The problem has been going on for decades, Rogers said.
"It's clear that nearly every sprout that comes up — they're technically called suckers — is eaten almost immediately as it comes out of the ground," Rogers said."

Simple solution:
Fence the whole area off.

Never dealt with deer as pests, have you?