OLDEST TREES ON EARTH: Oliveira do Mouchão, Mouriscas Portugal

Did you know that olive trees can live for 3350 years? This ancient specimen found in Portugal is proof that they can! Imagine: it has been a food source for people throughout colonial times, the Roman empire, and was over a thousand years old when Jesus was born!

Following a new non-destructive method of dating olive trees, researcher José Luís Lousada, an assistant researcher with the UTAD Forestry Department, awarded the certificate to Oliveira do Mouchão, in Mouriscas, on September 28, 2016. In the declaration, the Researcher reports that "In April 2016, this tree had a base perimeter of 11.2 meters, a perimeter at the breast height of 6.5 meters and a trunk height up to the first legs of 3.2 meters. Estimated at an age of 3350 years, "one reads.