Tallest tree species
We have little doubt that coast redwood is the tallest tree species on Earth now. This might be lucky (for coast redwood) coincidence – in recent past there were coast Douglas firs (in the United States and Canada) and eucalypti (in Australia) of comparable height and possibly higher, but these trees were ruthlessly cut. Nowadays we know about many hundreds of coast redwoods exceeding the height of 100 m… and only one tree of other species – yellow meranti in Sabah exceeds the height of 100 m.
Year 2006 was lucky – there were discovered three trees taller than the former world record holder – Stratosphere Giant (113.11 m tall in late 2009). The most successful find was on August 25 when naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor found the first known living tree on Earth exceeding 115 m height – its height then was 115.72 m. Hyperion tree is in good shape and seems still to be growing up although measurements from 2017 are slightly more impressive – height is 115.85 m (380.08 ft) and diameter – 4.84 m (15.87 ft) (2).
Traditionally the exact locations of this and many other tall trees (as well as caves and many other valuable natural landmarks) in the Western United States are not disclosed. This is done to avoid the temptation to "develop" this part of the national park or simply – to prevent disturbance to the forest by the crowds of excited nature lovers wading towards the tree. It is only known that it takes an arduous walk to reach this remote location in Redwood National Park.
Although part of the scientific community is not happy with this stance (location of the tree is not disclosed even in scientific publications), there are many sad cases when sensitive information from deeply scientific publications easily becomes VERY public. But, of course, heated debates about ethics in science and personal intrigues form the prosaic side in the lives of scientists. The magnificent Hyperion stands tall above this.
Until 2013 there were few traces of human activity around the (then) world’s tallest known tree. But on the visit from 2015 and later, there was noticed that more people have found this tree. The secret to a large extent still holds even after 13 years since the discovery, but, it seems, more and more people know the path to the tree.
There exist taller trees
It is known that in 2013 there was discovered even taller coast redwood and later – taller. The height of record trees is approaching 119 m!!! But currently, these trees are not announced to the public (2). An interesting fact is that these trees were not "noticed" by the LiDAR equipment – although measurements were made in these locations. Discovery was made with other, unannounced methods.
Hyperion tree is included in the following list:
- Pictures of Hyperion on Landmarktrees.com, 17 August 2010, was accessed on December 18 2010
- Hyperion Coast Redwood, Coast Redwood Adventures, last accessed on 3 December 2019. (images!)
Hyperion tree on the map (the exact location is not shown!)
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|Location, GPS coordinates:||41.2050 N 124.02 W (just a general location, exact location not shown)|
|Categories:||Trees, Biological extremes|
|Rating:||(4.5 / 5)|
|Where is located?||North America, United States, California, Humboldt County, Redwood National Park. Exact location not disclosed.|
|UNESCO World Heritage status:||Part of "Redwood National and State Parks", 1980, No.134.|
|Species:||Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.)|
|Height:||115.85 m (2017)|
|Diameter:||4.84 m (2015)|
|Volume:||502 m3 (?)|
Video of Hyperion – climbing the tree in 2006!
Peter Wall, December 2006
Portrays the anatomy and growth of the redwood, describes the plants and animals that share its habitat, and looks at the history of redwood logging.
Coast Redwood is the first contemporary illustrated book to focus exclusively on the natural and cultural history of the world’s tallest tree. This handsome volume, updated and revised in 2011, contains 230 color images and 100 black and white historic photos and describes the origins, distribution, life history, ecology, and wildlife associated with coast redwood.