Árbol del Tule

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Full width of trunk

El Árbol del Tule (Spanish for "the Tule Tree") is a very large tree located in the church grounds in the town center of Santa María del Tule in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, approximately 13 km (8 miles) from the city of Oaxaca on the road to Mitla. It is a Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum; Ahuehuete in Nahuatl).

1 Dimensions
2 Age
3 Images
4 External links and references

[edit] Dimensions

The tree is 43 m tall, has a circumference of 35.87 m, and has the largest trunk diameter of any tree in the world at 11.42 m. (approx. 37 feet) It has a volume of 705 cubic meters and weighs an estimated 509 020 kilograms. It is so large that it was originally thought to be multiple trees, but recent DNA tests have proved that it is only one tree. It is a Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum; Ahuehuete in Nahuatl).

[edit] Age

The age of El Tule is unknown, with estimates ranging between 1200 and 3000 years. Local Zapotec legend holds that it was planted about 1400 years ago by Pechocha, a priest of Ehecatl, the Aztec storm-god (Pakenham 2002); its position on a sacred site (later taken over by the Roman Catholic Church) would tend to support this.

[edit] Images

The tree is nicknamed the "Tree of Life" for all the images of animals that are reputedly visible in the tree's gnarled trunk. As part of an official project local schoolkids give tourists a tour of the tree and show all manners of creatures that the tree trunk's features form including jaguars and elephants.

This is the inspiration for "The Tree of Life" in Disney's Animal Kingdom, a massive fourteen story (145 ft.) tall artificial tree with carved images of 325 animals.