Hyperion is the name of a coast
redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens) in Northern California that was measured at
115.61 metres (379.3 feet), which ranks it as the world's tallest known living
tree. Hyperion is the world’s tallest tree, who was discovered in 2006 and
discovered three trees taller than the former world record holder “Stratosphere
Giant 113.11m tall in late 2009”. The most successful discovery of “Hyperion
tree”; when naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor discovered the first
known living tree on Earth exceeding 115m height. Latest measurement of
Hyperion is from late 2009 then the tree was 115.61m tall. Hyperion is in good
shape and seems still to be growing up.
Traditionally the exact location
of the tree has not been publicized due to the fear that human traffic would disturb
the ecosystem the tree inhabits. This is done to avoid the temptation to
develop this part of national park or simply to prevent disturbance to the
forest by the crowds of motivated nature lovers wading towards the tree. It is
only come to know that it takes hard walk to reach this remote location in
Redwood National Park. The tree is estimated to contain 18,600 cubic feet (530
m3) of wood and to be roughly 700–800 years old. Therefore; in Feb 2012,
Hyperion was featured in the BBC Radio 4 documentary James and the Giant
Redwoods by James Aldred.
Even though the part of the
scientific community is not pleased with this stance (location of the tree is
not disclosed even in scientific publications), there’re several sad cases when
delicate information from deeply scientific publications easily becomes VERY
public. But, definitely the heated debates about ethics in science and personal
intrigues form the prosaic side in the lives of scientists. The splendid
Hyperion stands tall above this.