Scientists went looking for giant trees in Taiwan and found a lost world
Researchers in Taiwan have identified an 84.1-meter-tall Taiwania fir, now recognized as the tallest tree in East Asia. The discovery highlights the importance of Taiwan's rugged, mountainous terrain in preserving old-growth forests that escaped historical industrial logging.
Why it matters
This discovery underscores the ecological value of inaccessible wilderness areas in protecting biodiversity and record-breaking natural specimens.
Taiwan, once widely known as Formosa, conceals a remarkable natural world within its steep and rugged interior. It is one of the few places on Earth capable of supporting truly giant trees, including specimens that rise more than 80 meters above the forest floor.
Since 2014, our group, the 'Taiwan tree seekers,' has worked to find, measure, and document these extraordinary trees. The team brings together professional tree climbers, ecologists, geologists, and remote sensing specialists.
That long search reached a major milestone in 2023, when we identified an 84.1-meter-tall (276-foot-tall) Taiwania fir ( Taiwania cryptomerioides ). It is now recognized as the tallest tree in Taiwan and all of East Asia. The Indigenous Rukai people have a poetic name for these immense firs: 'The tree that hits the moon'.
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