This strange-looking plant is called the Llareta. What looks like moss covering rocks is actually a shrub comprised of thousands of branches, each containing clusters of tiny green leaves at the end and so densely packed together that you could actually stand on top of it. This individual lives in the Atacama Desert in Chile, and it happens to be 3,000 years old. It also happens to be a relative of parsley.
Ova biljka čudnog izgleda zove se Llareta. Ono što izgleda kao mahovina koja pokriva kamenje ustvari je grm koji se sastoji od tisuća grana, a svaka grana na krajevima sadržava skupine sićušnih zelenih listova tako gusto zbijenih skupa da biste zapravo mogli stajati na njima. Ove individue žive u pustinji Atacama u Čileu i zanimljivo je da su stare 3.000 godina. Također je zanimljivo da su u rodu s peršinom.
For the past five years, I've been researching, working with biologists and traveling all over the world to find continuously living organisms that are 2,000 years old and older. The project is part art and part science. There's an environmental component. And I'm also trying to create a means in which to step outside our quotidian experience of time and to start to consider a deeper timescale. I selected 2,000 years as my minimum age because I wanted to start at what we consider to be year zero and work backward from there.
Zadnjih pet godina ja istražujem, radim s biolozima i putujem po cijelom svijetu tražeći organizme koji kontinuirano živeći dosežu starost od 2.000 godina i više. Projekt je dijelom umjetnost, a dijelom znanost. Ima ekološku komponentu. Ja također pokušavam stvoriti način da iskoračimo iz svakodnevnog doživljavanja vremena i počnemo uzimati u obzir dublju vremensku skalu. Odabrala sam 2.000 godina kao minimalnu dob za sebe zato što sam htjela početi od onoga što uzimamo kao nultu godinu i vračati se unatrag od tamo.
What you're looking at now is a tree called Jomon Sugi, living on the remote island of Yakushima. The tree was in part a catalyst for the project. I'd been traveling in Japan without an agenda other than to photograph, and then I heard about this tree that is 2,180 years old and knew that I had to go visit it. It wasn't until later, when I was actually back home in New York that I got the idea for the project. So it was the slow churn, if you will. I think it was my longstanding desire to bring together my interest in art, science and philosophy that allowed me to be ready when the proverbial light bulb went on. So I started researching, and to my surprise, this project had never been done before in the arts or the sciences. And -- perhaps naively -- I was surprised to find that there isn't even an area in the sciences that deals with this idea of global species longevity.
Ovo što sada gledate je drvo koje se zove Jomon Sugi, a živi na zabačenim otocima Yakushima. To drvo je, djelomice, bilo katalizator za projekt. Putovala sam u Japan bez nekog određenog plana, osim da fotografiram, i tada sam čula za ovo drvo staro 2.180 godina i odmah sam znala da ga moram posjetiti. Mnogo kasnije, kad sam se ustvari vratila kući u New York pala mi je na pamet ideja za projekt. Ustvari je to bilo sporo nadahnuće, da tako kažemo. Mislim da je ta moja vječna žudnja za spojiti svoje zanimanje za umjetnost, znanost i filozofiju bila spremna u trenutku kad se širom poznata žarulja upalila. I tako sam počela istraživati te na svoje iznenađenje shvatila da ovakav projekt nikad prije nije napravljen, kako u umjetnosti tako ni u znanosti. I onda, vjerojatno naivno, bila sam iznenađena otkrićem da čak niti ne postoji područje znanosti koje bi se bavilo općenito idejom dugovječnosti vrsta.
So what you're looking at here is the rhizocarpon geographicum, or map lichen, and this is around 3,000 years old and lives in Greenland, which is a long way to go for some lichens. Visiting Greenland was more like traveling back in time than just traveling very far north. It was very primal and more remote than anything I'd ever experienced before. And this is heightened by a couple of particular experiences. One was when I had been dropped off by boat on a remote fjord, only to find that the archeologists I was supposed to meet were nowhere to be found. And it's not like you could send them a text or shoot them an e-mail, so I was literally left to my own devices. But luckily, it worked out obviously, but it was a humbling experience to feel so disconnected. And then a few days later, we had the opportunity to go fishing in a glacial stream near our campsite, where the fish were so abundant that you could literally reach into the stream and grab out a foot-long trout with your bare hands. It was like visiting a more innocent time on the planet. And then, of course, there's the lichens. These lichens grow only one centimeter every hundred years. I think that really puts human lifespans into a different perspective.
Ovo što ovdje vidite je rhizocarpon geographicum, ili lišaj mapa koji je star oko 3.000 godina i živi na Grenlandu, što je dug put za prijeći za neke lišajeve. Posjetiti Grenland nalikovalo je više putovanju kroz vrijeme nego putovanju sasvim daleko na sjever. Bilo je to vraćanje prvobitnom te izdvojeno od svega što sam prije doživjela. A ovo je još podcrtano s nekoliko osobitih doživljaja. Jedan je bio kad su me odbacili brodom i ostavili na zabačenom fjordu, da bih shvatila kako arheolog s kojim sam se trebala sresti nije nigdje u blizini. A ne možete im poslati poruku ili ispaliti email, ustvari sam doslovno bila prepuštena sebi i svojim instrumentima. No srećom, upalilo je, očito. No to je bio ponižavajući doživljaj, osjećati se tako isključeno. I onda, nekoliko dana poslije, imali smo priliku otići pecati na ledenjački potok u blizini našeg kampa, gdje je ribe bilo u takvom izobilju da ste doslovce mogli posegnuti u potok i zgrabiti pastrvu dugačku 31cm golim rukama. Bilo je to kao da ste posjetili neko bezazlenije vrijeme na planetu. I onda, naravno, ti lišajevi. Ti lišajevi rastu samo jedan centimetar u stotinu godina. Ja mislim da ovo stavlja ljudski vijek u sasvim drugačiju perspektivu.
And what you're looking at here is an aerial photo take over eastern Oregon. And if the title "Searching for Armillaria Death Rings," sounds ominous, it is. The Armillaria is actually a predatory fungus, killing certain species of trees in the forest. It's also more benignly known as the honey mushroom or the "humongous fungus" because it happens to be one of the world's largest organisms as well. So with the help of some biologists studying the fungus, I got some maps and some GPS coordinates and chartered a plane and started looking for the death rings, the circular patterns in which the fungus kills the trees. So I'm not sure if there are any in this photo, but I do know the fungus is down there. And then this back down on the ground and you can see that the fungus is actually invading this tree. So that white material that you see in between the bark and the wood is the mycelial felt of the fungus, and what it's doing -- it's actually slowly strangling the tree to death by preventing the flow of water and nutrients. So this strategy has served it pretty well -- it's 2,400 years old. And then from underground to underwater.
A ovo što sada gledate je jedna zračna fotografija istočnog Oregona. A ako naslov 'Potraga za Armilarijskim (gljive) prstenima smrti' zvuči zlokobno, to i jeste. Armilarija je ustvari predatorska gljiva koja ubija određenu vrstu drveća u šumi. Također je benignije poznata kao medena gljiva ili "ogromna gljiva" jer je također jedan od najvećih organizama na svijetu. I tako uz pomoć nekoliko biologa koji proučavaju gljive, dobila sam neke mape i neke GPS koordinate, unajmila avion i počela tražiti prstenove smrti, kružne obrasce u kojima gljiva ubija drveće. I tako ja nisam sigurna ima li ih na ovoj fotografiji, ali znam da je gljiva tamo dolje. A zatim, vratimo se dolje na zemlju pa možete vidjeti kako gljiva upravo napada ovo drvo. Ova bijela tvar koju možete vidjeti između kore i debla je klobučasti micelij gljive, a što li radi … ustvari vrlo polako davi drvo do smrti tako što sprječava protok vode i hranjivih tvari. To je prilično uspješna strategija izgladnjivanja. Stara je 2.400 godina. A sada od 'iznad zemlje' idemo 'ispod mora'.
This is a Brain Coral living in Tobago that's around 2,000 years old. And I had to overcome my fear of deep water to find this one. This is at about 60 feet or 18 meters, depth. And you'll see, there's some damage to the surface of the coral. That was actually caused by a school of parrot fish that had started eating it, though luckily, they lost interest before killing it. Luckily still, it seems to be out of harm's way of the recent oil spill. But that being said, we just as easily could have lost one of the oldest living things on the planet, and the full impact of that disaster is still yet to be seen.
Ovo je mozgoliki koralj koji živi na Tobagu i koji je star oko 2.000 godina. A ja sam morala prevladati svoj strah od duboke vode da bih pronašla ovoga. Ovo je na oko 60 stopa ili 18 metara dubine. I vidjet ćete, ovo je oštećenje na površini koralja. Ustvari ga je izazvala skupina riba papagaja koja ga je počela jesti, međutim su, srećom, izgubili zanimanje prije no što su ga ubili. Još jednom srećom, čini se da je izvan opasne zone nedavnog izlijevanja nafte. No sad kad to kažem, mi smo lagano mogli izgubiti jedno od najstarijih živućih stvorenja na planeti, a puni utjecaj ove katastrofe tek će se vidjeti.
Now this is something that I think is one of the most quietly resilient things on the planet. This is clonal colony of Quaking Aspen trees, living in Utah, that is literally 80,000 years old. What looks like a forest is actually only one tree. Imagine that it's one giant root system and each tree is a stem coming up from that system. So what you have is one giant, interconnected, genetically identical individual that's been living for 80,000 years. It also happens to be male and, in theory immortal.
A sada, ovo je nešto za što ja mislim da je najžilavije biće na planeti. Ovo je klonalna kolonija drveća trepereće jasike (sjevernoamerička vrsta), koja živi u državi Utah i stara je doslovno 80.000 godina. Ono što izgleda kao šuma ustvari je samo jedno drvo. Zamislite to je jedan gorostasni korijenski sustav, a svako drvo je izdanak koji izlazi iz njega. Tako imate golemu, međusobno povezanu, genetički jedinstvenu individuu koja živi već 80.000 godina. To je mužjak, teoretski besmrtan.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
This is a clonal tree as well. This is the spruce Gran Picea, which at 9,550 years is a mere babe in the woods. The location of this tree is actually kept secret for its own protection. I spoke to the biologist who discovered this tree, and he told me that that spindly growth you see there in the center is most likely a product of climate change. As it's gotten warmer on the top of the mountain, the vegetation zone is actually changing. So we don't even necessarily have to have direct contact with these organisms to have a very real impact on them.
Ovo je također klonalno drvo. Ovo je smreka Gran Picea, koja je sa svojih 9.550 godina prava beba u šumama. Položaj ovog drveta ustvari se čuva kao tajna radi njegove vlastite zaštite. Razgovarala sam s biologom koji je otkrio ovo drvo i on mi je rekao da je tanašni izraštaj koji vidite ovdje u centru najvjerojatnije rezultat klimatskih promjena. Kako je na vrhu planine postalo toplije, vegetacijska se zona ustvari mijenja. I tako mi nužno ne moramo imati izravni kontakt s ovim organizmima, a da imamo vrlo stvaran utjecaj na njih.
This is the Fortingall Yew -- no, I'm just kidding -- this is the Fortingall Yew. (Laughter) But I put that slide in there because I'm often asked if there are any animals in the project. And aside from coral, the answer is no. Does anybody know how old the oldest tortoise is -- any guesses? (Audience: 300.) Rachel Sussman: 300? No, 175 is the oldest living tortoise, so nowhere near 2,000. And then, you might have heard of this giant clam that was discovered off the coast of northern Iceland that reached 405 years old. However, it died in the lab as they were determining its age. The most interesting discovery of late, I think is the so-called immortal jellyfish, which has actually been observed in the lab to be able to be able to revert back to the polyp state after reaching full maturity. So that being said, it's highly unlikely that any jellyfish would survive that long in the wild. And back to the yew here. So as you can see, it's in a churchyard; it's in Scotland. It's behind a protective wall. And there are actually a number or ancient yews in churchyards around the U.K., but if you do the math, you'll remember it's actually the yew trees that were there first, then the churches.
Ovo je tisa u Fortingall-u (Škotska). Samo se šalim. Ovo je tisa u Fortingall-u. (Smijeh) Ali ja sam stavila ovaj slajd tu zato što me često pitaju ima li u ovom projektu životinja. Osim koralja, odgovor je ne. Zna li netko koliko je stara najstarija kornjača? Ikakva pretpostavka? (Publika: tristo). Rachel Sussman: tristo? Ne, najstarijoj živućoj kornjači je 175, dakle niti približno 2.000. I onda, možda ste čuli o divovskoj školjci koja je bila otkrivena na obalama sjevernog Islanda koja je navršila starost od 405 godina. Doduše, umrla je u laboratoriju dok su joj određivali starost. U posljednje je vrijeme najinteresantnije otkriće, ja mislim, takozvana besmrtna meduza koja je stvarno promatrana u laboratoriju kako se vraća natrag u stanje polipa nakon što je dosegla punu zrelost. I nakon što je ovo rečeno, i dalje je jako malo vjerojatno da bi ikoja meduza poživjela tako dugo u divljini. I da se vratimo na tisu. I tako, kao što možete vidjeti, ovo je crkveno dvorište. To je u Škotskoj. Ona je iza zaštitnog zida. U stvari je veliki broj prastarih tisa u crkvenim dvorištima širom Engleske, no ako izračunamo, sjetit ćete se da su ustvari tise bile prve, a zatim su došle crkve.
And now down to another part of the world. I had the opportunity to travel around the Limpopo Province in South Africa with an expert in Baobab trees. And we saw a number of them, and this is most likely the oldest. It's around 2,000, and it's called the Sagole Baobab. And you know, I think of all of these organisms as palimpsests. They contain thousands of years of their own histories within themselves, and they also contain records of natural and human events. And the Baobabs in particular are a great example of this. You can see that this one has names carved into its trunk, but it also records some natural events. So the Baobabs, as they get older, tend to get pulpy in their centers and hollow out. And this can create great natural shelters for animals, but they've also been appropriated for some rather dubious human uses, including a bar, a prison and even a toilet inside of a tree.
A sada dolje na drugi dio svijeta. Imala sam priliku putovati oko Limpopo provincije u Južnoj Africi s ekspertom za Baobab drveće. I vidjeli smo ih popriličan broj, a ovo je najvjerojatnije najstariji. Oko 2.000 godina mu je i zove se Sagole Baobab. I znate, ja razmišljam o svim ovim organizmima kao o palimpsestima (svici korišteni za pisanje, brisanje i ponovno pisanje). Oni imaju tisuće godina vlastite povijesti unutar sebe samih, ali oni sadržavaju i zapise prirodnih i humanih događanja. A Baobabi su osobito izvrstan primjer toga. Vidite kako ovaj ima imena urezana na stablu, ali i zapise prirodnih događanja. Tako Baobabi, kako stare, postaju mekani iznutra i nastaju šupljine. A ovo stvara izvrsne zaklone za životinje, ali je zgodno i za neke sasvim neobične ljudske uporabe, uključujući bar, zatvor, čak i toalet unutar drveta.
And this brings me to another favorite of mine -- I think, because it is just so unusual. This plant is called the Welwitschia, and it lives only in parts of coastal Namibia and Angola, where it's uniquely adapted to collect moisture from mist coming off the sea. And what's more, it's actually a tree. It's a primitive conifer. You'll notice that it's bearing cones down the center. And what looks like two big heaps of leaves, is actually two single leaves that get shredded up by the harsh desert conditions over time. And it actually never sheds those leaves, so it also bears the distinction of having the longest leaves in the plant kingdom. I spoke to a biologist at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden in Capetown to ask him where he thought this remarkable plant came from, and his thought was that if you travel around Namibia, you see that there are a number of petrified forests, and the logs are all -- the logs are all giant coniferous trees, and yet there's no sign of where they might have come from. So his thought was that flooding in the north of Africa actually brought those coniferous trees down tens of thousands of years ago, and what resulted was this remarkable adaptation to this unique desert environment.
A ovo nas vodi ka mom sljedećem favoritu – barem mislim, zato što je tako neobično. Ova se biljka zove Welwitschia i živi samo na dijelovima obalne Namibije i Angole, gdje se jedinstveno prilagodila na sakupljanje vlage iz izmaglice koja dolazi od mora. I još nešto, to je ustvari drvo. To je primitivna četinjača. Primijetit ćete češere dolje prema središtu. A ono što izgleda kao dvije velike hrpe lišća, ustvari su samo dva lista. Rastrgani su zbog surovih uvjeta u pustinji tijekom vremena. A listovi joj ustvari nikad ne opadaju pa se izdvaja i po tome što ima najduže listove u carstvu biljaka. Razgovarala sam s biologom u Kirstenbosch botaničkom vrtu u Capetownu kako bih ga pitala što misli od kuda je došla ova neobična biljka, a njegovo razmišljanje je bilo da, ako putujete uokolo po Namibiji, vidjet ćete mnoge okamenjene šume, a sva stabla su -- stabla su divovske četinjače, a opet nema znaka od kuda su došle. Njegovo razmišljanje je bilo kako je poplava sjeverne Afrike ustvari naplavila sve to drveće četinjača, prije kojih deset tisuća godina, a to je rezultiralo ovom fantastičnom adaptacijom na jedinstvene uvjete pustinje.
This is what I think is the most poetic of the oldest living things. This is something called an underground forest. So, I spoke to a botanist at the Pretoria Botanical Garden, who explained that certain species of trees have adapted to this region. It's bushfelt region, which is dry and prone to a lot of fires, as so what these trees have done is, if you can imagine that this is the crown of the tree, and that this is ground level, imagine that the whole thing, that whole bulk of the tree, migrated underground, and you just have those leaves peeping up above the surface. That way, when a fire roars through, it's the equivalent of getting your eyebrows singed. The tree can easily recover. These also tend to grow clonally, the oldest of which is 13,000 years old.
Ovo je ono što ja smatram najpoetičnijim od svih najstarijih živih bića. Ovo je nešto što se zove podzemna šuma. Dakle, razgovarala sam s botaničarom u botaničkom vrtu Pretoria koji je objasnio kako su se određene vrste drveća adaptirale na ovu regiju. Ovo je regija grmolikog raslinja koje je suho i sklono samozapaljivanju, i što je drveće napravilo, ako možete zamisliti da je ovo krošnja drveta, a ovo je razina pri zemlji, zamislite kako je cijela stvar, cijela masa drveta, migrirala u podzemlje i sve što imate je to lišće koje proviruje iznad površine. Na ovaj način, kada vatra prohuja preko, ovo je ravno tome da odete na korekciju obrva, drvo se lagano može oporaviti. Ono također ima tendenciju da raste kao klon, od kojih je najstariji 13.000 godina.
Back in the U.S., there's a couple plants of similar age. This is the clonal Creosote bush, which is around 12,000 years old. If you've been in the American West, you know the Creosote bush is pretty ubiquitous, but that being said, you see that this has this unique, circular form. And what's happening is it's expanding slowly outwards from that original shape. And it's one -- again, that interconnected root system, making it one genetically identical individual. It also has a friend nearby -- well, I think they're friends. This is the clonal Mojave yucca, it's about a mile away, and it's a little bit older than 12,000 years. And you see it has that similar circular form. And there's some younger clones dotting the landscape behind it. And both of these, the yucca and the Creosote bush, live on Bureau of Land Management land, and that's very different from being protected in a national park. In fact, this land is designated for recreational all-terrain vehicle use.
Natrag u Ameriku, ondje je nekoliko biljaka podjednake dobi. Ovo je klonalni Creosote grm, koji je star oko 12.000 godina. Ako ste bili na američkom zapadu onda znate da je Creosote grm poprilično sveprisutan, no kad smo ovo rekli, vidite kako ovo ima jedinstvenu kružnu formu. I što se događa, polako se širi prema van iz ovog originalnog oblika. A ovo je sve -- opet, taj isprepleteni sustav korijenja, koji stvara jednu genetički identičnu jedinku. On također ima prijatelja u blizini -- no dobro, barem mislim da su prijatelji. Ovo je klonalna Mojave juka, ona je oko milju udaljena i malo je starija od 12.000 godina. I kao što vidite ima istu kružnu formu. A tu su i neki mlađi klonovi koji su oslikali krajolik iza nje. A ovo oboje, juka i Creosote grm, žive na zemlji Biroa za upravljanje zemljom, a to je sasvim drugačije od biti zaštićen u nacionalnom parku. U stvari, ovo je zemljište namijenjeno korištenju rekreacijskih vozila za sve terene.
So, now I want to show what very well might be the oldest living thing on the planet. This is Siberian Actinobacteria, which is between 400,000 and 600,000 years old. This bacteria was discovered several years ago by a team of planetary biologists hoping to find clues to life on other planets by looking at one of the harshest conditions on ours. And what they found, by doing research into the permafrost, was this bacteria. But what's unique about it is that it's doing DNA repair below freezing. And what that means is that it's not dormant -- it's actually been living and growing for half a million years. It's also probably one the most vulnerable of the oldest living things, because if the permafrost melts, it won't survive.
Dakle, sada vam želim pokazati ono što bi lako moglo biti najstarije živo biće na planetu. Ovo je Sibirska Actinobacteria, stara između 400.000 i 600.000 godina. Ova je bakterija bila otkrivena prije nekoliko godina od strane tima planetarnih biologa koji su se nadali pronaći tragove života na drugim planetima promatrajući najsurovije uvjete na našem. I ono što su pronašli istražujući u permafrostu bila je ova bakterija. A ono što je jedinstveno kod nje je da obnavlja svoju DNK na temperaturama ispod ledišta. A ovo znači kako ona tada nije uspavana. Ustvari to živi i raste pola milijuna godina. Ovo je također vjerojatno najosjetljiviji dugoživući stvor, zato što ako se permafrost otopi on neće preživjeti.
This is a map that I've put together of the oldest living things, so you can get a sense of where they are; you see they're all over the world. The blue flags represent things that I've already photographed, and the reds are places that I'm still trying to get to. You'll see also, there's a flag on Antarctica. I'm trying to travel there to find 5,000 year-old moss, which lives on the Antarctic Peninsula.
Ovo je mapa koju sam sastavila od svih dugoživućih živih stvorenja, kako biste dobili osjećaj gdje su; kao što vidite ona su posvuda. Plave zastavice predstavljaju bića koja sam već fotografirala, a crvene su postavljene na mjesta na koja pokušavam doći. Također vidite zastavicu na Antarktiku. Pokušavam tamo otputovati da nađem 5.000 godina staru mahovinu koja živi na Antarktičkom poluotoku.
So, I probably have about two more years left on this project -- on this phase of the project, but after five years, I really feel like I know what's at the heart of this work. The oldest living things in the world are a record and celebration of our past, a call to action in the present and a barometer of our future. They've survived for millennia in desert, in the permafrost, at the tops of mountains and at the bottom of the ocean. They've withstood untold natural perils and human encroachments, but now some of them are in jeopardy, and they can't just get up and get out of the way. It's my hope that, by going to find these organisms, that I can help draw attention to their remarkable resilience and help play a part in insuring their continued longevity into the foreseeable future.
Dakle, vjerojatno su mi ostale dvije godine projekta -- u ovoj fazi projekta, nakon pet godina, ja stvarno osjećam kako znam što je u središtu ovog rada. Najstarija živa bića na ovome svijetu su zapis i slava naše prošlosti, poziv na akciju u sadašnjosti i barometar naše budućnosti. Preživjela su milenije u pustinjama, u permafrostu, na vrhovima planina i na dnu oceana. Ona su izdržala neizrecive prirodne rizike i ljudsku najezdu, ali sada su neka od njih u opasnosti, a ne mogu se samo ustati i maknuti s puta. Ja se nadam, da svojom potragom za tim organizmima, mogu pomoći usmjeravanju pozornosti na njihovu izvanrednu otpornost i pomoći odigrati ulogu u osiguravanju kontinuiteta njihova starenja u predvidljivoj budućnosti.
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Applause)
(Pljesak)