Listen to the sounds of Pando, the largest living tree in the world

Researchers have recorded the sounds of the world's largest tree, a 13-million-pound (6 million kilograms) behemoth known as Pando that stretches across 106 acres (43 hectares) in southern Utah. The researchers think that listening to the recordings could give them a better understanding of the sprawling aspen’s health and any environmental changes that might affect it.

To the untrained eye, Pando resembles a forest made up of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) trees. However, it's actually a single clone comprising approximately 40,000 genetically identical stems (trunks) that are interconnected by a complex root system.

Last summer, Jeff Rice, a Seattle-based audio engineer, traveled to Pando, whose name means "I spread" in Latin. Using a hydrophone (a microphone normally used to pick up sounds underwater), he began recording the rustling of Pando's leaves in the wind, birds chirping in the canopy and critters scampering around — but he soon wanted to hear what was going on underground.