Name: The mysterious lives of giant trees
Uploaded: 2008-12-02T08:23:00Z
Duration: 19 min 11 s
Description: Science writer Richard Preston talks about some of the most enormous living beings on the planet, the giant trees of the US Pacific Northwest. Growing from a tiny seed, they support vast ecosystems -- and are still, largely, a mystery.

Richard Preston: The mysterious lives of giant trees

The mysterious lives of giant trees

Science writer Richard Preston talks about some of the most enormous living beings on the planet, the giant trees of the US Pacific Northwest. Growing from a tiny seed, they support vast ecosystems -- and are still, largely, a mystery.

The ancient coast redwoods of California reach nearly 380 feet tall and can live for thousands of years, forming entire ecosystems high above the forest floor. These trees are still largely unexplored, with new species occasionally discovered in their canopies. Only four percent of the original redwood rainforest survives today, protected in a chain of parks. Their unique biology and the mysteries they hold challenge our sense of time and connection to the natural world.