Over the past few years, biologists from Malaysia have discovered whole groves of exceptionally tall trees belonging to the yellow meranti species. The highest of them grows in the conservation area on the island of Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia). This meranti can be called a record high. Its length from the base to the top is 330.7 feet (100.8 meters). The height of the previous “champion” is 308.7 feet, or 94.1 meters.
100-meter giant from the conservation area
The team of researchers who found a tropical tree, recognized as the highest in the Danum protected area, called their find Menara, which means “tower” in Malay.
If Menara had been laid along the ground, she would not have had enough space on the football field. The weight of the tree (approximately 81.500 kilograms), excluding the roots, exceeds the maximum take-off weight of the Boeing 737-800.
Menara - the longest tropical plant
Clusters of giant trees were found in the center of one of the most protected and therefore least destroyed sections of tropical forests in Southeast Asia. The Danum Nature Reserve contains iconic and endangered species of animals and plants. Among them are orangutans, smoky leopards and forest elephants.
Here, the world's highest tropical trees have taken refuge. But all of them are far from Menara.
