A tree familiar to players of the computer game "Minecraft" could also be the tallest tree in the tropics, conservationists have found. Researchers spotted the enormous yellow meranti (Shorea faguetiana), extending 293.6 feet (89.5 meters) above the forest floor, on the northern part of the island of Borneo, where they were conducting reconnaissance flights to assess local biodiversity. Their discovery was described in an announcement published online June 8 by the University of Cambridge. "Yellow meranti" is also one of the sapling "species" available to Minecraft users in the game's "Forestry" modification pack, and it grows into a mahogany tree. But while Minecraft users can spawn an infinite number of trees and plant them in any biome, in the real world, the yellow meranti is threatened by habitat loss and is classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN.)

Fans of the computer game, Minecraft, may have already grown their own Yellow Meranti tree. But unlike on your computer screen, Yellow Meranti trees are huge and can grow to be as tall as 20 double-decker buses. Researchers have now found a tree in Malaysia which stands at a massive 89.5 metres tall, placing it 1.2 metres ahead of the previous record holder. The tree is part of the forest known as'Sabah's Lost World' - the Maliau Basin Conservation Area, one of Malaysia's last few untouched wildernesses The huge tree was discovered by scientists from the University of Cambridge working with the Sabah Forestry Department to help protect the area's biodiversity. Dr David Coomes, who led the study, said: 'It's a smidgen taller than the record, which makes it quite probably the tallest tree recorded in the Tropics!' At 89.5 metres, it is the height of 20 double decker buses, and just shorter than Big Ben.