There's a fungus in Oregon that's bigger than you think.

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No.

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Bigger.

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Keep going.

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In the Malheur National Forest lives a honey fungus called Armillaria ostoyae.

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Most of it isn't sitting above ground looking like one enormous mushroom.

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It's underground.

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The fungus grows through the soil and into the roots of trees using long, dark structures called rhizomorphs.

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And it spreads.

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And spreads.

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And spreads.

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Eventually, scientists began comparing samples of the fungus taken from different parts of the forest.

 

They discovered something rather ridiculous.

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It was all the same organism.

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One fungus had spread across approximately 2,385 acres.

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That's about 3.7 square miles.

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For comparison, that's roughly the size of 1,800 football fields.

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And it didn't exactly get that big overnight.

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Scientists estimate the fungus could be thousands of years old.

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Its enormous size has earned it the nickname the Humongous Fungus, and it's considered one of the largest known living organisms on Earth.

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You could walk through miles of forest.

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Past tree after tree.

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Across roads.

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Up hills.

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Down trails.

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And technically…

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still be standing on the same fungus.