13 replies to this topic

[kokopelli]

Just take a shot at this and wait and see the results. But if you cheat and lie about it then a certain member of your body will grow longer and longer and remember what happened to Pinocchio!

OK, what is the largest living organism on earth and where is it located? You can qualify your answer but only one answer allowed.

This should be easy. I will defer the answer until all get a chance to respond.

[Rogie]

Ok, I'll go first.

I don't know the answer but my guess would be something like the Great Barrier Reef. I don't think that's is the right answer because I assume that although the coral is present in large amounts it is comprised of individuals.

[Bob]

I actually think I saw him in a speedo at Dongtan beach one day.....

For mammals, I think it's the blue whale. For plants, I want to say some kind of moss or lichen but, similar to Rogie's response, I'm not sure if we're not talking about a whole lot of individual organisms clumped together.

[Gaybutton]

I think it's a plant. If I remember correctly it's some sort of a shrub and I think in a desert somewhere, but I don't remember where.

[fountainhall]

I like the little clue related to your question

[KhorTose]

I really knew this answer before I looked up this url. Really, I was fascinated when the news came out. I hate to tell you how tempted I was to name a person who post on this board now and then, but I will be nice this once.

http://www.scientifi...anism-is-fungus

[Rogie]

Ha! That means khun FH knows but is kindly allowing the rest of us to torture ourselves trying to guess (without cheating). Khun koko mentions a body part that keeps growing and the only one I can think of is the hair on your scalp.

So is that a kind of analogy? Some organism that grows in the way hair does, getting bigger and bigger. If so how is it nourished? From the soil or from the sea.

Ah, as I am writing I now see a post from Khun KT. Maybe I am on the right track. . .

A few minuted later: Yes, I was on the right track. I promise I did not cheat and did not read KT's link until just now! However clues were provided so it was just a matter of following them.

[kokopelli]

Actually I didn't try to provide any clues. I was joking about a person's member growing who lied; Pinocchio's nose grew whenever he lied and then there was the pencil sharpener. But I did have another "member" of the body in mind other than the nose.

Still awaiting some more answers. Don't be put off by that mushroom.

[kokopelli]

Khortose is right that there is a humongus fungus among us. It almost sounds like something out of a science fiction flick.

Bob was right about the blue whale being the largest mammal but also the largest animal to have ever lived on earth.

The great barrier reef is indeed the largest living organism but comprised of many separate species.

The plant mentioned by GB could be the Aspen (Pando) Grove in Colorado/USA which is about 100 acres and all the trees are connected by their root system. The weight of this grove is estimated as 6000 + tons so likely the heaviest living organism and the oldest at 80,000 years. There are also creosote bush colonies in the Mojave Dessert that are 12,000 years old.

No one mentioned the Giant Sequoia trees in California which may weigh 1000 tons and are 1500 + years old which gets my vote as opposed to some creepy mushroom that hides underground.

Thanks to all for participating.

[thaiworthy]

OK, good one. You are a dynamic brain-twister/puzzle-plotting poster, Kokoboy.

But perhaps I misunderstood your latest trivia quiz. You said largest living organism. I thought you meant single largest living organism. Blue whale qualifies, and maybe barrier reef but technically could not be correct since as you stated, is comprised of many different species. So I had ruled that out as an answer since it wasn't a single organism. I had guessed all that, and fungus came to mind. But without stating specifically the nature of the fungus, I had to rule that out as it not entirely a whole contiguous organism. Are we talking about cave fungus, or athlete's foot laying-in- wait in the grout of the shower at the last Men's Olympic event?

So if that doesn't qualify, then trees and groves don't qualify either. They are not a single, largest living contiguous organism.

Therefore, Blue Whale is the only possible answer. But perhaps I am thinking too much. My own logic, anyway.

Easy-peasy, but with many qualifications in order to include all these other loose and dangling possibilities.

Just my two cents.

[kokopelli]

Both the fungus and the grove of Pando are connected.

Not sure why a tree such as a Sequoia would not be considered as a whole contiguous living organism?

Here is one definition of organism:

1. An individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist, or fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life.

[Rogie]

Blue whales are definitely on the L-A-R-G-E size . . .

The blue whale is the largest animal ever known to have lived. The largest known dinosaur of the Mesozoic Era was Argentinosaurus^] which is estimated to have weighed up to 90 metric tons (99 short tons).
Blue whales are difficult to weigh because of their size. As is the case with most large whales targeted by whalers, adult blue whales have never been weighed whole, but cut up into manageable pieces first. This caused an underestimate of the total weight of the whale, due to the loss of blood and other fluids. Nevertheless, measurements between 150–170 metric tons (170–190 short tons) were recorded of animals up to 27 metres (89 ft) in length. The weight of an individual 30 metres (98 ft) long is believed by the American National Marine Mammal Laboratory (NMML) to be in excess of 180 metric tons (200 short tons). The largest blue whale accurately weighed by NMML scientists to date was a female that weighed 177 metric tons (195 short tons).

http://en.wikipedia....Blue_whale#Size

Here's a nice website devoted to L-A-R-G-E trees in Tasmania.

'Biggest hardwood trees in the world!'

The criteria for Giant Trees are: at least 85 metres tall or 280 cubic metres in volume.

http://www.gianttrees.com.au/

So these trees are longer than the blue whale and I assume a lot heavier also. Koko says they weigh 1,000 tons.

Some of you are probably thinking "I thought the biggest or tallest trees were the ones referred to already, the Sequoias".

So, are the Tasmanians telling fibs?

[kokopelli]

Those Tasmanian trees are the tallest "hardwood" trees. The Sequoias and Redwoods are softwoods. The tallest tree now standing is a coastal redwood in Calif at 111.5 m. There was a taller Douglas fir in Canada but that is not longer standing. The Tasmanian trees at about 96 m, so they are tall. I never knew of them until your post.

Attached Files

•  Extreme Trees.jpg   217.05KB   2 downloads

[Rogie]

That illustration is a great way of looking at it - the Redwood is taller but the Sequoia is immense in terms of cubic volume. Whereas the Tasmanian trees are at least 180 cubic metres (cu m) the Sequoias are nearly 1,500 cu m.