World's Oldest Trees

The oldest living things on earth are Bristlecone pine trees, some of which can be found in the White Mountains of California. Many of them are over four thousand years old. Many of the trees living today were seedlings when the pyramids were being constructed, and mature trees in the time of Christ. These trees are ancient!

The oldest Bristlecones live in exposed sites at high altitudes, with lots of space between each tree. Strangely, these trees thrive only in the harshest of environments. The White Mountains, which rise to over 14,000 feet, are east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and so they get almost no rain. They're one of the driest places on earth during the summer. The trees live in hilly areas at the 10,000 foot level, where it is cold and windy.