What is it?
Well... It's not a worm, although I found a foot-long earthworm on my walk yesterday.
Actually, we're not talking about large animals like blue whales or elephants either.
(Oh and it's not a dinosaur because those are extinct and this thing is still living).
It's not the Coral Reef because that's a superorganism made up of tons of smaller organisms.
If you're talking largest in terms of weight, it might be a clonal colony of aspen trees named Pando weighing in at over 6,000 tons.
BTW, the largest single tree is the General Sherman located in Sequoia national park - Agnes and I visited it a few years ago on the "Coolest Trip Ever".
Have you guessed it yet?
No?
Here's a clue: It lives in Oregon.
What? That doesn't help?
Well, I guess I'll have to tell you. But first, let me tell you how I came to know the answer.
After work yesterday, just before I entered the powerline park and saw the birds, I saw what looked like a path going into the woods behind some houses. I decided to check it out. I found some interesting stuff there but no path. I took a few pictures and left. Just as I came out, a man that lived in one of the houses drove up to his house. He got out of the car, waved and asked me if I was looking for birds back there.
I showed him and his wife my pictures and the man's face lit up. He asked me if I knew what the largest organism in the world was. Well, I had a pretty good guess based on the subject of the photos, but I had no idea that it lived in Oregon. His wife laughed and said the man had only learned of this organism two days ago and that's why he was so eager to share his knowledge.
Are you ready for the answer?
It's a humongous fungus.
Yep.
An Armillaria ostoyae AKA honey mushroom found in the Malheur National Forest in Eastern Oregon.
If you haven't had enough of my mushroom pictures yet: here is one that looks like a hamburger bun, one that looks like a moldy tomato, a spiny puffball, some chunky brown mushrooms, and some bright orange fungus.
Well... It's not a worm, although I found a foot-long earthworm on my walk yesterday.
Actually, we're not talking about large animals like blue whales or elephants either.
(Oh and it's not a dinosaur because those are extinct and this thing is still living).
It's not the Coral Reef because that's a superorganism made up of tons of smaller organisms.
If you're talking largest in terms of weight, it might be a clonal colony of aspen trees named Pando weighing in at over 6,000 tons.
BTW, the largest single tree is the General Sherman located in Sequoia national park - Agnes and I visited it a few years ago on the "Coolest Trip Ever".
Have you guessed it yet?
No?
Here's a clue: It lives in Oregon.
What? That doesn't help?
Well, I guess I'll have to tell you. But first, let me tell you how I came to know the answer.
After work yesterday, just before I entered the powerline park and saw the birds, I saw what looked like a path going into the woods behind some houses. I decided to check it out. I found some interesting stuff there but no path. I took a few pictures and left. Just as I came out, a man that lived in one of the houses drove up to his house. He got out of the car, waved and asked me if I was looking for birds back there.
I showed him and his wife my pictures and the man's face lit up. He asked me if I knew what the largest organism in the world was. Well, I had a pretty good guess based on the subject of the photos, but I had no idea that it lived in Oregon. His wife laughed and said the man had only learned of this organism two days ago and that's why he was so eager to share his knowledge.
Are you ready for the answer?
It's a humongous fungus.
Yep.
An Armillaria ostoyae AKA honey mushroom found in the Malheur National Forest in Eastern Oregon.
If you haven't had enough of my mushroom pictures yet: here is one that looks like a hamburger bun, one that looks like a moldy tomato, a spiny puffball, some chunky brown mushrooms, and some bright orange fungus.
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