Amazing Planet's video: HUMONGOUS FUNGUS AKA Armillaria solidipes The world s BIGGEST living ORGANISM

HUMONGOUS FUNGUS (AKA Armillaria solidipes)! The world’s BIGGEST living ORGANISM! Well, who’s heard of the Humongous Fungus? Who’s ever heard of an organism that encompasses an area the size of 10 square kilometres …that’s the equivalent of 1665 football fields. Yep, this massive organism is easily the largest known living thing on the planet. It’s big enough to make a California Redwood look like a California Cat. Large enough to make a 200 ton Blue Whale look like a 200 gram Blue Smurf – it’s absolutely gigantic and is believed to have been growing for at least 2000 years (with some claiming it could be twice that age; in which case that would place it amongst the oldest living organisms… in the world). Located in the Blue Mountains of Oregon in the United States and discovered in 1998, the Humongous Pathogenic Fungus is scientifically defined as having a single set of genetically identical cells that are coordinated and working as one. Mind you, or as you may have guessed, the bulk of this amazing entity is actually located underground; the parts that are visible, and in fact are only visible for a short time in the autumn, are called “honey mushrooms”. Scientists attribute the organism’s tremendous size to a number of factors which include a low competition for land, a healthy diet and plenty of exercise… So there you have it, the Humongous Fungus… Thank you all very much for watching. Please don’t forget those up-thumbs… and we’d of course love to have you… as a subscriber. The music -- called "Odyssey" -- was composed by the very, very talented and charitable Kevin MacLeod of Incompetech: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/?keywords=Odyssey "Odyssey" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ All Gizah Pyramids" by Ricardo Liberato - All Gizah Pyramids. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:All_Gizah_Pyramids.jpg #/media/File:All_Gizah_Pyramids.jpg "Statue-Augustus" by Till Niermann - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue-Augustus.jpg #/media/File:Statue-Augustus.jpg "Blue Mountians Baker City, Oregon" by Doug Kerr - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougtone/14631742772. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Mountians_Baker_City,_Oregon.jpg #/media/File:Blue_Mountians_Baker_City,_Oregon.jpg