The world's oldest tree has "had a baby" - researchers have succeeded in cloning Old Tjikko

Three years ago, the research station was tasked with artificially trying to clone Old Tjikko, which is estimated to be more than 9,500 years old.

The assignment is part of an art project.

Old Tjikko has so far cloned itself naturally on the mountainside over the years, and never before have researchers carried out so-called grafting on such an old object.   

Today it has succeeded and the researchers can present 15 small, but genetically exact, copies of the record-old tree.

The shoots thrive in the greenhouse

The researchers first collected annual shoots from the tree on Fulufjället and now the shoots have grown up to ten centimeters in the facility outside Svalöv.

- This was a difficult project, but it has succeeded very well.

They grow much better here in the greenhouse than at Fulufjället, says researcher Andreas Helmersson at Skogforsk.

Hear how the researchers succeeded in grafting the world's oldest tree in the clip.