Produced by: Mohsin Shaikh
Credit: Daniel Stahle
Beneath melting ice in Wyoming’s Beartooth Plateau, scientists uncovered a 5,900-year-old forest, perfectly preserved — but exposed only because of today's rapid climate warming.
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Thirty ancient whitebark pines, preserved for nearly 6,000 years, were found 180 meters above today’s tree line, proving that climate shifts once pushed forests to impossible heights.
Credit: Gregory Pederson
This ancient forest, hidden for millennia, only surfaced as ice patches vanished — a stark warning that rising global temperatures are now unearthing Earth's frozen past.
Credit: Joe McConnell/Desert Research Institute
Professor Cathy Whitlock calls the discovery a "window into past climates" — but it's also a red flag as melting ice keeps revealing what climate change is undoing in real-time.
Credit: Montana State University
Experts warn that as ice melts to reveal ancient trees, dangerous viruses and bacteria — frozen for thousands of years — could also wake up, threatening human and wildlife health.
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Carbon dating shows these trees are over 5,000 years old, giving scientists rare evidence of ancient climates — but also exposing how fast modern warming is moving.
Credit: Daniel Stahle
As ice disappears, it’s not just trees emerging — but dangerous shifts in water cycles, triggering floods, landslides, and river collapses, threatening people and wildlife across high altitudes.
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With global heating, tree lines are expected to rise higher, changing mountain ecosystems forever — replacing ancient alpine habitats with forests and forcing wildlife to flee or die out.
This frozen forest is a stunning glimpse into history, but also a grim forecast — showing how fast and dangerously Earth's climate can shift, threatening life as we know it.
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