A green forest in southern Chile might be home to the world’s oldest tree after a new study found that an ancient alerce tree known as “great grandfather" could be more than 5,000 years old. Known as the “Great Grandfather,” this ancient tree is believed to be the oldest in the world, with a history that spans more than 5,000 years

• Scientists were not able to determine an exact age based on tree rings because of the tree’s massive trunk. Normally, a 1 meter (1.09 yards) cylinder of wood is extracted to count tree rings, but the great grandfather’s trunk has a diameter of 4 meters.
• Jonathan Barichivich, the scientist who led the study, said the sample they extracted and other dating methods suggest the tree is up to 5,484 years old.
• “This method tells us that 80% of all possible growth trajectories give us an age of this living tree greater than 5,000 years," Barichivich said. “There is only a 20% chance that the tree is younger."