The largest organism on Earth, and probably the oldest multicellular organism, is named Pando. Kind of a cutesy name for such an impressive specimen, don't you think?
If you were to meet Pando -- which you could easily do, if you paid a visit to Fishlake National Forest in Utah -- it would look like a forest of Quaking Aspen trees. But if you happened to be equipped to do DNA testing on plant specimens, you would realize that all of the trees were genetically identical. That's because they're all part of the same tree, sharing a common root system. One tree springs from a seed, long ago, and spreads out roots; but then more trees erupt from those roots, and the process simply continues. Individual "trees" might die, but that's like you or me losing a toenail; Pando lives on. It weighs in at over six million kilograms, and ...
