Thailand used to have trees twice the size of its current tallest trees. Check out the biggest piece of petrified wood on the planet!
Nine fossilized trees almost as tall as California redwoods have been found in northern Thailand.
Remnants of an 800,000-year-old giant tropical rain forest, they are the largest unearthed pieces of petrified wood on the planet.
The 237-foot trunk of the longest fossil found so far suggests the original tree towered at least 330 feet tall.
The tallest tree alive in Thailand today is half that size at 165 feet. The tallest living tree in the world today is a 380-foot California redwood.
The extinct trees appear to be closely related to a species alive today called Koompassia elegans, which belongs to the same family as black locust trees, beans and peas. according to a 2013 study.
Fossilization is typically unheard of in tropical rainforests, as organic matter degrades quickly in such a wet environment.
“The preservation of these giant logs was made possible only because of quick burial of flood plain trees by rapid sedimentation, due to the uplift of the western mountain range,” the study said.
Today, you can visit the petrified trees in Doi Soi Malai National Park.