Hyperion - the tallest tree in the world

Coordinates:	41.31 N 124 W (approximately, exact location not shown)
No:	171        (list of all attractions)
Category:	Trees
Values:	Biology
Rank:	2
Address:	North America, United States, California, Humboldt County, Redwood National Park. Exact location not disclosed.
Species:	Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl.)
Height:	115.61m
Diameter:	4.84m (4.57m?)
Volume:	502 m3

Hyperion.
© Mario Vaden.

The tallest tree of the world - Hyperion - was discovered recently - in 2006.

Tallest tree species

There are no doubts that coast redwood is the tallest tree species on Earth. This might be lucky (for coast redwood) coincidence - in recent past there were coast Douglas firs (in United States and Canada) and eucalypts (in Australia) of comparable height and possibly higher, but these trees were ruthlessly cut. Nowadays there are known many hundreds of coast redwoods exceeding the height of 100m... and no trees of other species exceeding this height.

Recent discovery

Year 2006 was lucky - there were discovered three trees taller than the former world record holder - Stratosphere Giant (113.11m tall in late 2009). The most successful find was in August 25 when naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor found the first known living tree on Earth exceeding 115m height. Latest measurement of Hyperion is from late 2009 - then the tree was 115.61m tall. Hyperion is in good shape and seems still to be growing up.

Secret location

Traditionally the exact locations of this and many other tall trees in Western United States are not diclosed. This is done to avoid the temptation to "develop" this part of 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 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.