El Árbol del Tule (Spanish for "the Tule Tree") is a very large tree located in the church grounds in the town center of Santa María del Tule in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, approximately 13 km from the city of Oaxaca on the road to Mitla. The tree is 43 meters (135 feet) in height, , has a circumference of 35.87 meters (139 feet), and has the largest diameter of any tree in the world at 11.42 meters, and it has a volume of 24,893 cubic feet (705 cubic metres) and weighs approximately 1,119,844 pounds (509,020 kilogrames). It is a Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum; Ahuehuete in Nahuatl). The age of El Tule is unknown, with estimates ranging between 1200 and 3000 years. Local Zapotec legend holds that it was planted about 1400 years ago by Pechocha, a priest of Ehecatl, the Aztec storm-god (Pakenham 2002); its position on a sacred site (later taken over by the Roman Catholic Church) would tend to support this. The tree is nicknamed the "Tree of Life" for all the images of animals that are reputedly visible in the tree's gnarled trunk.
The trunk and branches of this tree take different and v arious forms known popularly as "The Elephant", "The Lion", "The Three Wise Men" "The Deer", "The Coconut", and "The Fish", among others. In fact, if you visit you will be offered a tour of the tree by local school children who will show you all manner of creatures hiding in the tree. They work for tips and will make sure and show you all the tree has to offer.
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