Angelim vermelho: What it took to reach tallest tree in Amazon forest

It took scientists three years of planning, five expeditions and a two-week trek through dense jungle to reach the tallest tree in the Amazon rainforest.

The giant tree, an angelim vermelho, measures 88.5 meters tall - about the height of a 25-storey building - and is 9.9 meters in circumference, AFP reported.

Angelim vermelho, scientific name Dinizia excelsa, is a tropical rainforest tree species native primarily to Brazil and Guyana and is known to regularly reach heights above 60 metres.


This one was first spotted in satellite images during a 3D mapping project in 2019, standing head and shoulders above others in the Iratapuru River Nature Reserve in northern Brazil.

It's in the reserve's remote Jari Valley region, which sits at the border between the states of Amapa and Para.

The first expedition launched by academics and environmentalists that year was called off after 10 days of walking through difficult forest terrain.

Three more expeditions followed. The found other trees, including the tallest Brazil nut tree but not this one.

Then, between September 12-25 this year, researchers went 250 kms by boat up difficult rivers and 20 kms through remote jungle terrain to reach it.

"It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Just divine," forest engineer Diego Armando Silva from that group told AFP

They camped under the massive tree and collected leaves and soil which will now tell how old the tree is , A rough estimate is 400 to 600 years.

The remote region has many other giant trees, but they are under threat. The durable wood of Angelim vermelho is prized by loggers. The Iratapuru reserve is also invaded by illegal gold miners who bring ecological destruction.

Around half of the weight of the region's giant trees is carbon absorbed from the atmosphere - which is important in curbing climate change.