There is probably no such place on our planet where there would not be a gigantic tree. Mother Nature has always been rich in miracles. And what is not in her bins! It happens that such a miracle opens up that you can’t even believe your eyes. You begin to feel like a small child, who for the first time looks into the cherished old grandmother's chest.
So what is it, the largest tree on Earth? Perhaps there is no exact answer to this question. Big tree - it can be the tallest or the widest. Under this definition, several types of trees can be attributed to Let's consider some of them.
The giant sequoiadendron is the last of the cypress genus. It is also called mammoth tree, giant sequoia, wellingtonia or washingtonia. The last two names are derived from celebrity names. In America, the largest tree is named after the first president, and in England - in honor of the Duke of Wellington, the hero of the Battle of Waterloo. And it is called mammoth, as it has gigantic branches hanging down as if
This species during the late Cretaceous and Tertiary periods grew throughout the northern hemisphere. And today, no more than 30 groves have been preserved, which are located in California, in the west of the Sierra Nevada. The largest of the sequoiadendrons have their own names: "Three Sisters", "Father of the Forests", "Thick Tree", "General Grant", "Pioneer's Hut", "General Sherman" and so on. All of them are included in a special register.
It grows slowly, can tolerate frosts of 25˚C, but only if it is a short-term cold snap. Mature trees grow up to 100 meters in height, and reach up to 12 meters in diameter. Their bark is red-brown in color with large cracks. The needles are also rough, have a gray-green color. Small ovoid cones grow on it, which ripen only at the end of the second year.
Baobab - Africa's largest tree
It grows up to 30 meters in height and over 10 meters in width. It is also called a sponge tree, since an adult plant is able to accumulate about 100 thousand liters of water. There is a beautiful African legend: at first the creator placed the baobab on the banks of the Congo River, but the tree did not like the dampness. Then he was transferred to the slope of the Lunar Mountains, only there he was uncomfortable. The angry creator pulled out the baobab and threw it on the dry land of Africa. Since then, the largest tree has been growing with its roots up. Indeed, the branches of the baobab are very similar to the roots.
Sponge tree blooms with large white flowers (up to 20 cm), pollinate them the bats. The fruits are edible, and the roasted seeds can be used in place of coffee. In fruits, the pulp is saturated with vitamins B and C, it tastes like ginger. And if you dry it, grind it, and then dilute it in water, you get a soft drink, something like lemonade. Therefore, the baobab is also called the lemonade tree.
All types of trees are genetically programmed in such a way as to stop their growth when they reach a certain height, age, crown density. Thus, the tree accumulates its internal resources for regeneration. However, in addition to "heredity", the growth of a tree is limited by many other factors. For a long time, the main aspect that affects the ability of trees to reach gigantic sizes, scientists considered average annual temperature in their area of growth. After analyzing the conditions in which they grow tallest trees in the world, scientists now believe that seasonal fluctuations in temperature, altitude, and proximity to the ocean also play a significant role.
Where do the tallest trees in the world grow?
Nine specimens from the list of the tallest trees in the world with a height of more than 90 meters are deployed in Oceania, southern Australia and western North America with an average annual temperature of 7-15.4 degrees and seasonal variation of 7-19.7 degrees. Data climatic conditions are observed on 2.1% of the earth's land, but not everywhere the trees reach gigantic sizes. Another 20 tree colossi with a height of 80-90 meters are located in tropical forests archipelagos between Oceania and Australia with approximately identical temperature conditions. All groups of the tallest trees on Earth grow at a distance of 3900-5500 km from the equator and at an altitude of 50-2700 meters above sea level. The distance between the localizations of the largest representatives of the flora in Australia does not exceed 2700 km, in North America- 1400 km. The largest trees grow in climates with an average annual temperature of 7 degrees.
Interesting to know! Sequoia sempervirens or Taxodium sempervirens is the most gigantic tree species on Earth, reaching over 100 m in height with a maximum age of about 3.5 thousand years. Sequoia - tree coniferous and belongs to the cypress family. The natural habitat is the Pacific coast of North America.
Temperature conditions in most of Western Europe coincide with the parameters of the regions where the world's tallest trees are located, but in Eurasia most of vegetation is far from huge size. Even the once exotic species that have taken root in Europe are always much higher than local tree species.
Interesting to know! In 2006, in the thicket of the forest national reserve Redwood (California), the tallest tree in the world with a height of 115 meters was discovered - a sequoia, which received the name Hyperion. Its location is hidden from the public so that those who want to see the giant tree do not disturb the ecological balance of the area, since the main problem of the Earth's vegetation cover is significant.
Giant sequoia in Sequoia National Park, USA
The biomass of forests, along with their height, is also the subject of active study by scientists. Wood is a kind of "pantry" of carbon, which saturates the Earth's atmosphere with its dioxide. Although the height of a tree is a more important biological parameter than its biomass, scientists tend to link these characteristics together. There is a hypothesis that trees with high biomass density are not able to reach phenomenal height.
Interesting to know! In addition to the sequoia, in the family of cypress trees there is another gigantic representative - the sequoiadendron Sequoia gigantea, called the mammoth tree or giant sequoia. It is more squat than the sequoia, and the diameter of its trunk is much thicker - about 10 meters. The biomass of sequoiadendrons sometimes reaches 1000 cubic meters.
How does the ocean affect the height of a tree?
A special role in reaching a tree beyond the size is also played by the height of its location relative to the level of the world ocean. In tropical forests located below sea level, the biomass and growth of a tree vary, but they are comparable to the size and volume of individuals in highlands - the low pressure of mountainous regions does not prevent tree growth. For example, an 89-meter Araucaria growing at 1050 m below sea level and a high biomass alpine specimen of the same species in the forests of Papua New Guinea have identical heights. The location of the sequoia Taxodium mucronatum with a maximum trunk diameter on Earth of 11.5 meters is the tropical forests of Mexico at around 1550 meters below sea level.
Interesting to know! In mountainous areas, tree crowns are more columnar, in tropical forests - closer to sprawling. Trees with an lancet or conical crown are always much taller than their relatives with an umbrella-shaped leafy tent.
Alpine woodlands- the habitat of the tallest trees in the world
It would seem that the growth of a tree is affected by moisture and soil properties, but the latest scientific study by Finnish scientists shows that the tallest trees grow better in arid regions of the Earth than in humid areas or on mountaintops. The amount of precipitation is also not a fundamental factor, since trees can accumulate moisture due to the morning fogs characteristic of the sea coast.
Interesting to know! Among the tallest trees in the world, 44% are conifers, 13% are eucalyptus. The giants of the tropics are lower than their relatives from South-East Asia, but have a large crown area.
The proximity of the tallest trees in the world to the sea coast is associated, as a rule, with a sufficient level of soil moisture and fogs that fall like dew on the foliage of a tree. This allows them to accumulate enough moisture necessary for growth. But in fact, a more significant moment in the proximity of the ocean is the formation of an acceptable temperature regime for the development of the tree in height.
The tallest trees on Earth - sequoias, grow on the Pacific coast.
All 29 of the world's tree colossi over 80 meters in height, which were studied in the course of scientific research, are located no further than 100 km from the ocean in windless regions. Most of them grow just a few kilometers from the coastline, reachable by the sea breeze, which forms cooler daytime temperatures.
Why does a giant tree need a fire?
Australian giant eucalyptus trees are among the tallest flowering trees on the ground. Of the 100 thousand tree species, only 50 species, which is 0.005% of their total number, reach 70 meters or more in height. Although most of these green giants live on the Pacific coast of North America and on the island of Borneo, 13 subspecies have settled in South and Eastern Australia. It is here, on the Green Continent, on the territory of the island of Tasmania and in the east of the Victoria Desert, that the natural habitat of the royal eucalyptus, or Eucalyptus regnans, is located. In total, six of the tallest trees in the world were recorded on the mainland of Australia and its surrounding islands, of which one specimen in Tasmania has a “growth” of 99.6 meters, the other in the desert regions - 114.3 meters.
The regal eucalyptus (Eucalyptus regnans), native to Australia, can reach a height of over 100 meters, making it one of the tallest tree species in the world.
The rainbow eucalyptus is the only eucalyptus species that grows in northern latitudes. Often it is specially grown to drain wetlands.
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Eternal human interest in everything very, very in the world - big, small, long, high, deep - inexhaustible in the search for new curious facts and unusual records. And if it is not possible to outdo exceptional natural masterpieces, then in the fields of construction and industrial production, people from generation to generation tirelessly strive to establish at least a temporary superiority over competitors in height, size and a number of other parameters. In the material below - the most amazing sights of the world, created by nature and human hands.
The biggest country in the world
According to a 2015 estimate, its population does not exceed 1,000, and almost all are subjects of the Holy See.
The next largest state in terms of territory (other autonomous territories are not taken into account) is Monaco with an area of 2.02 square meters. km and with a population of approximately 38,800 people, according to a 2014 estimate.
The largest city in the world
The largest city in the world in terms of population and at the same time the largest seaport is Shanghai, China. In this metropolis, according to 2015, 24,152,700 people live.
The largest urban agglomeration is Tokyo-Yokohama, 37,843,000 people. The population of Tokyo alone is 13,617,445 people (as of 2016).
There is no single assessment of cities by area, since the official city limits around the world are formed and indicated in different ways: with or without suburbs. Currently, one of the largest cities in terms of area is Beijing, 16411 sq. km (according to other sources - 16801 sq. km), of which the city proper accounts for approximately 1368 sq. km. km (and this territory is steadily growing every year due to the suburbs), the suburbs - about 15042 square meters. km.
The largest and smallest island in the world
With such a vague definition, the volume of wood was taken as the main criterion for "calculating" the winner. The volume of the trunk of this sequoiadendron at the time of setting the record is 1487 cubic meters, while the mass of the entire tree is estimated at 1900 tons - "General Sherman" is not only the largest, but also the heaviest living organism on Earth at the present time, if you do not take into account the aspen poplar grove - clonal colony Pando (about 6000 tons). And this sequoiadendron, whose age is estimated at 2300-2700 years, continues to grow and adds about 1.5 cm in width every year. The measured height of the tree is 83.8 meters, the trunk circumference at the ground is 31.3 meters, and the maximum trunk diameter is 11.1 meters.
However, in terms of diameter, the giant is inferior to the Mexican Tule Tree in the city of Santa Maria del Tule. According to the measurements of 2005, its diameter at the ground is 11.62 meters, the circumference is 36.2 meters. The exact height of the tree is difficult to measure due to its wide crown; according to approximate measurements - about 35.4 meters. Scientists still argue about its age and the actual number of trunks, but this did not prevent the Tule Tree from being included in the UNESCO list in 2001 as a natural monument of international importance.
The largest animal in the world
The largest animal on the planet is the blue whale (aka blue whale, vomited). The body length of these marine mammals reaches 33 meters, and the weight can exceed 150 tons. Historically, the range of this cetacean species was the entire World Ocean, but now their populations are scattered. All year round blue whales are found in the equatorial waters of the Indian Ocean, they can be seen from the shores of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Seychelles.
The largest whale ever caught by humans is considered to be a female blue whale, caught in 1926 in the waters of the South Shetland Islands. The length of her body from the fork of the tail fin to the end of the snout is 33.27 meters, and her weight is 176.792 tons.
The largest animal on land is the bush elephant (a type of African elephant). As a rule, males weigh an average of 7 tons, females - about 5 tons. With a body length of about 6-7.5 meters, the height of the elephant at the shoulders is close to 3-3.8 meters. The recorded weight of the largest bush elephant was 12.24 tons. The animal was shot in 1974 in the village of Mukusso (Angola). Tourists can see savannah elephants in Africa in national parks and reserves.
The fastest animal in the world
The cheetah is the fastest land mammal. According to various sources, these predators can accelerate in 3 seconds to a speed of 96.6 - 112 km / h. National Geographic magazine named the fastest female cheetah named Sarah (also Sahara): she ran 100 meters in 5.95 seconds. The sprint run of cheetahs for prey lasts no more than 20 seconds and is limited to a distance of 400 meters.
At the same time, among all the animals of the world, cheetahs occupy only 13th place in terms of speed. The championship is for the birds. And the fastest bird and, in general, the fastest representative of the animal kingdom is the peregrine falcon, which in a dive flight develops a speed of 322 km / h, the record noted by the researchers is 389 km / h. However, in horizontal flight, the peregrine falcon is inferior to the Brazilian folded lip (a species of bats and the fastest mammal) with its speed over 160-200 km / h and swifts (species - black, needle-tailed), capable of accelerating to a maximum of 169 km / h.
Among the fish, black marlin stands out for its speed: on average, these large oceanic fish are able to cut through the water column at a speed of 85 km / h, the maximum set speed of a representative of the species is 129 km / h.
Of the insects, horseflies fly the fastest - on average 60 km / h, maximum - 90 km / h.
Some representatives of the class of reptiles can reach speeds of up to 35-40 km / h, but no more. These are bearded dragons, green iguanas, and leatherback turtles in the water.
The biggest fish in the world
The largest fish of our time is the whale shark, harmless to humans, living in the warm waters of the tropics. It feeds mainly on plankton, and its average length varies between 10 and 12 meters, although such specimens are extremely rare for fishermen.
The second largest species is the giant shark (giant shark). Like the whale shark, this shark feeds on small organisms - plankton. On average, adults reach 6-8 meters, and only a few sharks grow up to 9-12 meters.
Beluga is the largest freshwater fish, part of the sturgeon family. This species is listed in the Red Book. The largest fish caught in the Caspian Sea and at the mouth of the Volga were over 4 meters long and weighed about 1.5 tons.
The biggest shark in the world
The debate about the size and weight of the largest sharks has been going on for decades. Currently, the existence of exceptional specimens of whale sharks over 20 meters long is allowed. In particular, information credible by researchers includes reports of a shark 20 meters long and weighing 34 tons, caught near Taiwan in 1997, and a shark 17.5 meters long and weighing 15 tons, caught in the Arabian Sea off the coast of the city of Veraval, India.
The last report of a very large whale shark was on February 7, 2012. Then Pakistani fishermen caught an already dead shark near Karachi, 11 to 12 meters long and weighing about 15 tons.
The largest shark that ever existed is considered to be the megalodon, an extinct species, the size of whose representatives can be judged by paleontological finds: the average length is about 15 meters, while megalodons were predators.
The biggest snake in the world
The largest snakes on the planet are representatives of boas and pythons, namely the green anaconda and the reticulated python.
The heaviest snake in the world is the common or green anaconda, and the name "water boa" also applies to it. National Geographic indicates that the largest female anacondas can grow up to 8.8 meters and weigh more than 227 kg. However, on this moment this indicator remains only a theoretical estimate. Posts about giant anacondas By now, a lot has accumulated, but most of them do not have any material evidence and are legends. The largest recorded specimen of an anaconda in captivity was kept at the Pittsburgh Zoo. The snake grew to 6.27 meters, and was weighed at a length of 5.94 meters - 91 kg.
The longest snake, the reticulated python, is native to Asia and grows up to 1.5-6.5 meters in nature. The largest measured representative of the species was 6.95 meters long and weighed 59 kg, but had not eaten for almost 3 months before the measurement. With pythons, as well as with anacondas, a lot of unconfirmed evidence is associated, including about a length of more than 8 meters.
The biggest spider in the world
The largest spider in the world is the goliath tarantula tarantula, in Latin - Theraphosa blondi. The specimen described in the Guinness Book of Records was discovered by members of the expedition of Pablo San Martin in the tropical forests of Venezuela in 1965. The leg span of the Goliath tarantula was 28 cm. In 1998, the same size was recorded in a two-year-old spider grown in captivity, while it weighed 170 grams.
With a leg span of about 25 cm or more, some species of the Sparassidae family grow, their sonorous often used name is giant crab spiders.
The largest spiders in Russia are the South Russian tarantula and several types of crosses. Basically, the sizes of the largest individuals do not exceed 2.5-3 cm.
The biggest dog in the world
The title of the tallest dog in the world with a mention and photographs in the Book of Records belongs to Zeus, a Great Dane (aka Great Dane), a pet of the Durlag family from Otsego, Michigan, USA. The height of Zeus is 111.8 cm, the dog weighs more than 70 kg. If Zeus stands on his hind legs, his "height" will be 224 cm. The record was set on October 4, 2011. At the same time, Zeus is not much taller than the previous record holders - Giant George (109.2 cm) and Titan (107.3 cm), which, by the way, are the same breed - Great Dane.
by the most heavy dog back in 1987, the English mastiff Zorba was named: a six-year-old dog weighed 142.7 kg. Two years later, when weighed again, he was even heavier: 155.6 kg at a height of 94 cm.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest dog ever lived lived on Earth about 15.3 million years ago, during the Late Miocene. The average weight of this ancient wild dog is estimated at 170 kg.
The biggest cat in the world
The longest living pet cat is the Maine Coon Ludo, pet of Kelsey Gill from Wakefield, UK. The cat was measured for the Guinness Book of Records on October 6, 2015. As expected, measurements were taken three times, and then the average length was calculated - 118.33 cm. At the time of measurement, the pet was 17 months old, it weighed 11 kg. Now several active pages in social networks are devoted to news from his life.
The record of the famous predecessor of Ludo, also a Maine Coon, the cat Stewie, is 123 cm, he was named the domestic cat with the longest tail. He died in 2013 at the age of 8.
Officially, the largest living cat in the world is the liger Hercules (a hybrid of a lion and a tigress). He was born in 2002 at the Institute of Endangered and Rare Species in Miami, at the time of the last measurements at the age of 11, he weighed 418.2 kg, was 3.33 meters long and 125 cm high at the withers. Hercules is mobile and does not suffer from obesity.
The tallest man in the world
Registered in the Guinness Book of growth of the tall man in history, the American Robert Pershing Wadlow, is 272 cm. With this height, he weighed 199 kg. The giant was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor and acromegaly, so he grew vigorously from the age of four until his death - at the age of 22 in 1940.
The second largest in the history of observations remains John Rogan, whom the newspapers of his day dubbed the "Negro giant." However, already in adolescence, due to growth, he began to develop ankylosis - immobility of the joints. His exact weight was measured only posthumously, in 1905 at the age of 40, and amounted to 267 cm with a weight of only 79 kg.
The tallest living person is Turkish farmer Sultan Kösen, born in 1982, whose height is 251 cm. Gigantism in his case is also caused by a pituitary tumor, but as a result of treatment, doctors managed to slow down the further growth of the man.
Currently, the history of medicine knows about 17 people who have reached a height of more than 244 cm.
The fastest man in the world
Usain Bolt
Kai Pfaffenbach / Reuters / Scanpix / LETA
The glory of Usain Bolt, the Jamaican runner, thunders from the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and now the athlete has 9 gold medals from the Olympic Games and 11 from the World Championships. The athlete, nicknamed "Lightning" (Lightning Bolt - literally "Thunderbolt"), set 8 records.
The fastest person reached his first world speed record in 2008 at the age of 22 - 100 meters in 9.72 seconds. In 2009, he improved the 100m to 9.58 seconds. His world record for the 200 meters is 19.19 seconds.
The tallest building in the world
The tallest building and structure ever built by mankind is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, also known as the Dubai Tower.
The grandiose eastern skyscraper, shaped like a futuristic center or a stalagmite, rises 828 meters from the ground, includes 163 floors and a sharp spire directed upwards. The grand opening of the skyscraper, which thundered all over the world, took place in 2010, on January 4, then the ceremony included a light show and fireworks, and was broadcast online.
The Dubai skyscraper was built with a large margin, because the earlier (and also not yet overcome by the third high-rise) record was correlated with the Warsaw radio mast (646.38 meters), which fell in 1991.
The tallest building in Russia and Europe is the Federation Tower (about 374 meters) as part of the Moscow City complex, followed by two more skyscrapers of the same complex - OKO (South Tower, 354 meters) and Mercury City (339 meters). The fourth tallest building in Europe after the Moscow towers remains the pyramidal London skyscraper The Shard (309 meters), which opened to tourists in 2013.
The tacit international competition for the construction of super-skyscrapers continues, and, perhaps, very soon it will be possible to learn about taking a new height.
The tallest tower in the world
Among the TV towers already built, the Tokyo Skytree (634 meters high), towering in the special Sumida area, is in the lead. It is also the second high-rise building in the world after the Burj Khalifa. The tower was completed by February 29, 2012 as part of a program to completely convert Japanese television to digital format, as the height of the Tokyo TV Tower (332.6 meters) was insufficient for this task. Observation decks on the Tokyo Skytree are located on several levels, the highest is at 451 meters.
The Guangzhou TV Tower is 34 meters lower than the Tokyo Sky Tree, but from its highest observation deck you can see the panorama of the metropolis from a height of 488 meters.
In the Western Hemisphere, height superiority remains with the famous CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, built back in 1976. Its height is 553.3 meters, and the observation platform at 447 meters annually receives more than 2 million people. By the way, the Ostankino Tower in Moscow is only 13 meters lower than the Canadian CN Tower, and it has the 4th place in the world.
The longest bridge in the world
The three longest bridges are railway bridges, all of which are located in China.
The maximum length is at the Danyang-Kunshan viaduct (164.8 km), put into operation at the end of June 2011. The bridge is part of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, about 9 km of the bridge passes over the water surface. The largest body of water crossed by the Danyang-Kunshan Viaduct is Yangcheng Lake. The other two existing railway bridges among the three record-breaking ones, the Tianjin Viaduct (113.7 km) and the Wei Bridge (79.732 km), are two to three times longer than the largest structures of comparable type in other countries.
The longest marine girder bridge was laid along the route Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macau. The second longest beam bridge - Qingdao - is also located in China.
The longest among the ground structures of the bridge type currently remains the Bang Na highway in Bangkok, opened in 2000, 54 km long.
The largest aircraft in the world
Air giants fulfill the dreams of many travelers traveling to new countries and even to other continents.
Passengers who frequently fly internationally have a chance to see the largest production airliner, the Airbus A380, which is operated by several leading airlines. The wing span of the liner is 79.75 meters, length - 72.75 meters, width - 24.08 meters. The capacity of this double-deck passenger aircraft is 853 passengers or 525 passengers in a three-class configuration.
The status of the largest and heaviest air plane in the world holds the only copy of the An-225 "Mriya", put into operation in 1988. The board is used for cargo transportation and has already managed to break over a hundred records, including transporting the heaviest monocargo in the history of aviation weighing 187.6 tons, while the maximum load capacity it reached was much more - 253.8 tons.
The largest ship in the world
The infamous Titanic, which struck the whole world with its size at the beginning of the 20th century, can hardly be compared with the new cruise ships these days. The Titanic, launched in 1912, was 269.1 meters long and 28.19 meters wide. At that time, these figures were record-breaking.
Currently, the Harmony of the Seas, 362 meters long and with a passenger capacity of 5479 / 6500 people, which was put into operation relatively recently, in the summer of 2015, is the leader in the cruise giants' size race. Notably, Harmony of the Seas is the third ship of the Oasis class and is only two meters longer than its predecessors, the 2008 Oasis of the Seas and 2010 Allure of the Seas twins.
The largest floating facility currently under construction is the Korean floating liquefied natural gas plant Prelude FLNG, which has already been launched. The ship-factory with a length of 488 meters resembles other smaller industrial ships in its appearance.
The fastest train in the world
A new world train speed record was achieved relatively recently - in April 2015. A Japanese L0 Series maglev train (maglev train) reached a high-speed railway Shinkansen speed 603 km/h.
Since 2007, the championship among rail trains has been held by the French train TGV POS, which has reached a speed of 574.8 km/h. Now trains of this series serve regular routes in France and Europe, not exceeding the design speed of 320 km/h.
In constant operation, the Shanghai Maglev train maintains the highest speed - 430 km / h, but only on a number of flights (on others - 300 km / h) and at a distance of 30 km.
The largest metro in the world
When comparing the largest subways in the world, it is customary to single out several records: this is the deepest and longest subway, the leading subways in terms of the number of stations and the number of passengers per year.
The longest subway (in terms of the total length of completed lines) is Shanghai, the total length of the underground transport network is 588 km, and this is not the limit - the expansion of the subway is planned in stages for several decades to come.
Most of the stations and routes are in the New York subway. This subway includes 472 stations (or 425 unique interchange nodes) on 36 branches.
The busiest subway (in terms of maximum daily load) is in Beijing, its daily load is on average 9.998 million people, the peak is more than 12.69 million people, the annual figure is 3660 million passengers. At the same time, the consistently expanding network of the Beijing Subway holds the position of the second longest - 574 km.
The next in terms of daily load is the Moscow Metro: at the end of 2015, the traffic volume reached 2384.5 million people per year or 6.533 million per day, the peak load was recorded on December 9, 2014 - 9.5 million people.
The undisputed leader in terms of annual passenger traffic is the Tokyo Metro (3334 million). And Seoul ranks third and behind Beijing - according to the latest official figures, it serves 2,619 million people annually.
The depth record belongs to the Arsenalnaya station of the Kiev metro: it was laid 105.5 meters underground. Sometimes there are attempts to “calculate” the deepest metro in the world by the average bookmark of all its stations, but the unambiguous champion for this indicator has not yet been precisely determined.
The longest car in the world
Recorded in the Guinness book, the car was assembled according to the project of Jay Orberg, a Hollywood collector, designer and creator of unique cars. It was the 100-foot (about 30.5 meters) limousine that brought Orberg worldwide fame.
The car is put on 26 wheels and inside can hardly resemble the interior of a classic car. It is equipped with a swimming pool with a springboard and a double waterbed; in addition, there are about a dozen beds, satellite TV, a sunbathing area and other amenities. For safe control of this, in fact, an exhibition model, a second driver's cabin is provided.
The fastest car in the world
The land speed record set in 1997 is astonishing: it is the world's first officially confirmed breaking of the sound barrier. In a Thrust SSC car with turbofan engines, Briton Andy Green reached a speed of 1227.985 km / h. Speed measurements were taken in the Black Rock Desert, USA.
The Guinness Book of Records stipulates that a Budweiser Rocket Car race in 1979 at the American Edwards Air Force Base claims to be the first to break the sound barrier, but this experience was not officially sanctioned by the USAF, its results were never counted.
The fastest production car is the Hennessey Venom GT. The acceleration record - up to 300 km / h in 13.63 seconds was set on this car on January 21, 2013. In addition, the car showed the best result in average acceleration to 200 mph, its figure was 14.51 seconds. The maximum speed reached by this car is 435.31 km/h.
Trees on planet Earth appeared long before the emergence of mankind, later people began to widely use wood in Everyday life for construction and other economic purposes. These representatives of the flora differ among themselves in height, shape, habitats, and for many centuries they have not ceased to amaze with their diversity. It is possible that many have thought about the name of the tallest or largest tree in the world, then the information below will be of interest to the reader.
General characteristics of giant plants
Eucalyptus, sequoia and fir dominate among examples of gigantic sizes, individual specimens can reach a height of several tens of meters. Growth is influenced by many factors, the main of which are considered average temperature for the year and its fluctuations, the distance to the ocean and the elevation of growth above sea level.
High record holder
The absolute winner in this category is the Hyperion tree - it grows in state park Redwood in California.
In 2015, the height of the tallest tree in the world was recorded at 115.61 m, after which it received the title of the tallest tree on Earth that is currently growing. Belongs to the genus of evergreen sequoia (Sequoia sempervirens) of the Cypress family, the maximum age of which is up to 2000 years.
The record holder was discovered in August 2006, when 2 naturalist botanists, Michael Taylor and Chris Atkins, decided to take measurements from this specimen. It turned out that its height was then 115.55 m, and in 2015 the diameter of the trunk at the level of 1.4 m from the ground was 4.84 m. Experts estimate the volume of wood at 502 cubic meters; 800 years.
Outwardly, it looks strictly and concisely - a conical crown and a slender trunk. The bark is thick, has a red-brown hue, its width can vary up to 30 cm.
Management national park decided not to disclose the exact location where this greatest attraction grows, out of fear that the busy flow of tourists from all over the world could cause irreparable damage to the natural ecosystem surrounding the Hyperion.
Specialists during a recent examination of the upper part of the trunk noticed damage caused by woodpeckers. Unfortunately, they do not allow Hyperion to grow further, growth can only continue in width, so the other participants in the ten tallest trees have every chance to soon overtake the current winner of this category.
According to Wikipedia, there are now 15 modern trees over 110 m high.
Huge giant
"General Sherman" is the name of the largest tree in the world, which is considered to be a representative of the giant sequoiadendron.
It grows in the American Sequoia Grove in California, has the nomination "The largest in terms of volume and mass that grows on Earth today."
This is the heaviest living form of life, which has truly colossal parameters, and the annual growth in width, according to experts, is 1.5 cm:
- height - 83.8 m;
- trunk circumference at ground level - 31.3 m;
- diameter at the base - 11.1 m;
- crown span (average value) - 32.5 m;
- total weight - 1910 tons;
- barrel weight - 1121 tons;
- barrel volume - 1487 cubic meters;
- age - within 2300-2700 years (according to Wikipedia). However, there are a number of versions proving that it is no more than 2000 years old.
In 1879, the botanist James Wolverton named this giant tree after William Tecumseh Sherman, the famous US general, under whose leadership he happened to serve for several years. Later, in 1931, experts found that this particular specimen is considered the most powerful in the world.
The "Giant Forest", where this award-winning winner has grown for millennia, is now a popular tourist spot where you can take great souvenir pictures against the backdrop of a huge sequoia.
Researchers have established Interesting Facts, which say that it is possible to build a house with 6 rooms from the wood of "General Sherman", and the volume of oxygen that it forms is almost 120 kg per year, which is enough for 3-4 people.
January 2006 for a huge trunk was marked by the loss of a large branch, the diameter of which was equal to 2 m, and the length was almost 30 m. When it fell, it ruined the fence and the road. None of the park staff saw the incident, it is believed that this is a protection from unfavorable weather conditions. But, even having lost this part, the tree still holds its title further.
Giants in Russia
It is difficult to say exactly which tree is the tallest in Russia, because the country does not have an official register of botanical winners. However, on the territory of the federation, forests occupy a significant part of the land, so almost every region or region has something to surprise in terms of flora record holders.
The highest representatives of the country
Fir - evergreen conifer tree of the Pine family, widely found in the taiga of Siberia, can reach a height of 60-100 m and a diameter of 1.5-2 m. It has a straight trunk and many branches, starting from the very base. Siberian cedars can also be classified as high, which can be just below 40 m tall.
This is a world of incredible contrasts. In this world, there are almost invisible dwarfs and real giants, incredibly dangerous plants and vice versa, incredibly useful. The most contrasting representatives of the flora will be discussed below.
The largest tree in the world
It is also the largest and heaviest living organism on Earth. This title belongs sequoiadendron by name "General Sherman", which has been growing for 2500 years in the United States. The dimensions of this one are simply impressive: height 84 meters, diameter 11 meters, base circumference 31.3 meters. Even more serious indicators fall on weight - 1910 tons and volume - 1490 cubic meters.
The tallest tree
This nomination should be divided into 2 categories: - currently growing trees, - champions of all time. Of the currently growing trees, the tallest is sequoiadendron(aka mammoth tree and giant sequoia), which the Americans also gave the nickname - "Hyperion". At the moment, its height is 116.2 meters.
The absolute record holder is regal eucalyptus, which was cut down in 1872 in Australia, the length of this eucalyptus exceeded 150 meters.
They also grow very tall and, among them you can find many plants whose length reaches more than 100 meters.
The longest tree
Palm rattan, which looks more like a vine, grows up to 300 meters. Interestingly, the diameter of the trunk at the very roots is only a few centimeters. In terms of growth, the rattan palm is also more like a liana, it twists around other trees and clings to them with the help of thorns located on the leaves.
The largest crown
Many types of ficus have interesting feature form aerial roots (layering) and due to this grow horizontally. This ficus life form is named banyan. The largest banyan tree today is "Great Banyan" from the Indian Botanical Gardens, its area is 1.5 hectares.
The oldest tree
spiny pine intermontane - apparently is the longest-lived tree on Earth. Pine by name "Methuselah", which grows in a highland region in North America in 19 years, it will be 4863 years old, and if this happens, it will beat the record of another pine of the same species "Prometheus". Today, the age of "Methuselah" is 4844 years!
The thickest tree (the thickest trunk)
Taxodium mexican(cypress) growing in the city of Santa Maria del Tule has a diameter of 11.62 meters and almost 36.5 meters in girth.
Baobabs and European chestnuts also achieve impressive results in this category.
fastest growing plant
This record belongs to plants from the bamboo family. Almost all types of bamboo grow at a rate of up to 20-30 cm per day, but the fastest growth rates are observed in edible leaf grate. This plant grows up to 40 cm per day.
The tallest grass
Fun fact, but the tallest grass in the world is banana(banana palm). This is not a joke, bananas are real herbaceous plants. The record belongs to the variety Musa itinerans- 12 meters high.
largest aquatic plant
Kelp macrocystis can grow up to 300 meters in length, but the average size ranges from 70 to 200 meters.
The largest water lily
Water lily victoria regal(Victoria Regia) is the largest in the world, its diameter is more than 2 meters. It grows in the Amazon basin.
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