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Trees are the silent witnesses of human history. While empires rise and fall, some trees have been growing in the same spot for thousands of years, surviving ice ages, volcanic eruptions, and industrial revolutions. Here are five secrets from the oldest living things on our planet.

• Methuselah – The Silent Watcher: Located high in the White Mountains of California, this Great Basin bristlecone pine is confirmed to be over 4,850 years old. It was a sapling when the first pyramids were being built in Egypt. To protect it from souvenir hunters and vandals, the U.S. Forest Service keeps its exact location a closely guarded secret.
• Pando – The Trembling Giant: In Utah, there is a forest of 47,000 aspen trees that is actually one single organism. Every tree in the 106-acre grove shares the exact same DNA and a massive, interconnected root system. Scientists estimate that the root system could be up to 80,000 years old, making it one of the oldest and heaviest living things on Earth.
• Old Tjikko – The Survivalist Spruce: This Norway spruce in Sweden looks like a relatively small, young tree, but its root system has been carbon-dated to be approximately 9,560 years old. For millennia, the tree survived as a stunted shrub during cold periods and sprouted into a full tree whenever the climate warmed up.
• The Tree That Bleeds: The Dragon Blood Tree, found on the Socotra archipelago, can live for hundreds of years. Its unique umbrella shape is designed to capture moisture from the fog. It gets its name from its dark red sap, which was once so highly valued for medicine and dyes that it was traded like gold in the ancient world.
• Alerce Milenario – The New Contender: In Chile, a Patagonian cypress known as the Great Grandfather is currently being studied by researchers who believe it might be over 5,000 years old. If confirmed, it would officially take the title of the world’s oldest individual tree from Methuselah.