After three years of projects, five expeditions and two weeks of walking through the dense jungle, scientists have reached the tallest tree ever found in the Amazon rainforest, an imposing specimen the size of a 25-story building. The giant tree, whose top protrudes above the canopy in the Iratapuru River Nature Reserve in northern Brazil, is a red angelim (scientific name: Dinizia excelsa) which measures 88.5 meters high and 9.9 meters in circumference – the largest ever identified in the Amazon, scientists say.
Researchers first spotted the huge tree in satellite imagery in 2019 as part of a 3D mapping project. A team of academics, conservationists and local guides organized an expedition to try to reach him in the same year. But after 10 days of walking through difficult terrain, exhausted, short of supplies and with a team member who fell ill, they had to back down.
Three more expeditions reached several other gigantic trees, including the tallest Brazil nut tree ever recorded in the Amazon (66 meters). But the huge angelim vermelho remained elusive until the September 12-25 expedition, when researchers traveled 250 kilometers by boat up rivers with treacherous rapids and another 20 kilometers on foot through mountainous jungle terrain to reach it. It was worth it, says Diego Armando Silva of the Federal University of Amapa, who helped organize the trip. “It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Simply divine,” said Silva. “You are in the middle of this forest where humanity has never set foot before, with an absolutely exuberant nature”. After camping under the huge tree, the team collected leaves, soil and other specimens, which will now be analyzed to investigate issues such as the age of the tree – at least 400-600 years, according to Silva’s estimates – the reason for which the region has so many giant trees and the amount of carbon they store.