Old Growth Taiga

Not to be confused with Taiga or Snowy Taiga.

Old growth taigas are cold forested biomes covered with tall spruce trees. There are two variants in the biome family.

Description

As the name implies, an old growth forest includes trees that have attained a great age, and therefore height. Much as the normal taiga can be considered a colder counterpart of the forest biome, the old growth taigas can be considered a colder counterpart of the jungle biome. Similarly to jungle and dark forest biomes, these biomes generate at very high humidity values and are often surrounded by the regular taiga biome.

As with regular taigas, spruce grows all over the landscape, and most of them are the large 2×2 trees that grow significantly taller than regular spruce. Much of the grass blocks are replaced by large swaths of podzol and coarse dirt. Additionally, rocks made of mossy cobblestone frequently generate on the ground and dead bushes generate alongside the sweet berry bushes‌^{[JE only]}, ferns, large ferns and tall grass on the ground. Wolves, foxes and rabbits‌^{[JE only]} may spawn here. As the climate here is cold, rainfall changes to snowfall above layer 200, though in the old growth spruce taiga variant, snowfall forms at layer 160. Because the snowfall line is so high up, snow rarely forms naturally as these biomes are usually replaced by groves when they generate in mountains or other steep terrain.

An old growth spruce taiga.

There are overall more trees in old growth taigas compared to normal taigas, leading to increased foliage density. This makes wood more abundant, though as a large portion of it grows as part of tall 2×2 spruce trees, it may be more difficult to obtain. Old growth taigas are slightly more difficult for survival than regular taigas for this reason, though aren't so bad once acclimated and strategies are used to clear the tall trees; they may offer more unique views compared to regular taigas as well.

Variants

Old Growth Pine Taiga

Old Growth Pine Taiga

Type	Cold
Rarity	Uncommon
Temperature	0.3
Structures	Forest rocks
Blocks	Grass Block Podzol Coarse Dirt Mossy Cobblestone Spruce Log Spruce Leaves Fern Large Fern Dead Bush Mushrooms Sweet Berry Bush‌[JE only]
Grass color	#86B87F
Foliage color	#68A55F
Water color	#3F76E4‌[JE only]  #2D6D77‌[BE only]

The standard biome variant, old growth pine taiga features the typical terrain covered by coarse dirt, podzol and both large 2x2 and normal-sized spruce trees, with the tall trees being mostly arrow shaped with few leaves at the top, as well as forest rocks. Wolves, foxes and rabbits‌^{[JE only]} may spawn here.

In Java Edition:

Mob	Spawn chance	Group size
Underground water creature category
Glow Squid	10⁄10	2–4
Passive category
Sheep	12⁄60	4
Pig	10⁄60	4
Chicken	10⁄60	4
Cow	8⁄60	4
Wolf	8⁄60	4
Rabbit	4⁄60	2–3
Fox	8⁄60	2–4
Hostile category
Spider	100⁄541.25	4
Zombie	100⁄541.25	4
Skeleton	100⁄541.25	4
Zombie Villager	25⁄541.25	1
Creeper	100⁄541.25	4
Slime	100⁄541.25	4
Enderman	10⁄541.25	1–4
Witch	5⁄541.25	1
Spider Jockey	1⁄541.25	1
Chicken Jockey	0.25⁄541.25	1
Ambient category
Bat	10⁄10	8

In Bedrock Edition:

Mob	Spawn chance	Group size
Passive category
Sheep	12⁄56	2–3
Pig	10⁄56	1–3
Chicken	10⁄56	2–4
Cow	8⁄56	2–3
Wolf	8⁄56	4
Fox	8⁄56	2–4
Hostile category
Spider	100⁄496.25	1
Zombie	95⁄496.25	2–4
Zombie Villager	5⁄496.25	2–4
Skeleton	80⁄496.25	1–2
Creeper	100⁄496.25	1
Slime	100⁄496.25	1
Enderman	10⁄496.25	1–2
Witch	5⁄496.25	1
Spider Jockey	1⁄496.25	1
Chicken Jockey	0.25⁄496.25	1
Ambient category
Bat	10⁄10	2

Old Growth Spruce Taiga

Old Growth Spruce Taiga

Type	Cold
Rarity	Uncommon
Temperature	0.25
Structures	Forest rocks
Blocks	Grass Block Podzol Coarse Dirt Mossy Cobblestone Spruce Log Spruce Leaves Fern Large Fern Dead Bush Sweet Berry Bush‌[JE only] Mushrooms
Grass color	#86B783
Foliage color	#68A464
Water color	#3F76E4‌[JE only]  #2D6D77‌[BE only]

The old growth spruce taiga variant resembles the regular old growth taiga at first glance, with the main difference being the shape of the giant trees. The giant trees in old growth spruce taigas have leaves surrounding much more of the tree trunk, the larger amounts of leaves increase the chances of saplings dropping when these trees are cut down, leading to easier sustainability. This variant is also slightly colder than the regular biome, which means that snowfall starts at layer 160 instead of layer 200.

In Java Edition, old growth spruce taigas use the same mob spawning chances as old growth pine taiga for passive and ambient categories. As for the others:

Mob	Spawn chance	Group size
Hostile category
Spider	100⁄516.25	4
Zombie	95⁄516.25	4
Zombie Villager	5⁄516.25	1
Skeleton	100⁄516.25	4
Creeper	100⁄516.25	4
Slime	100⁄516.25	4
Enderman	10⁄516.25	1–4
Witch	5⁄516.25	1
Spider Jockey	1⁄516.25	1
Chicken Jockey	0.25⁄516.25	1

In Bedrock Edition, old growth spruce taigas use the same mob spawning chances as old growth pine taigas.

Data values

ID

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Translation key
Old Growth Pine Taiga	old_growth_pine_taiga	biome.minecraft.old_growth_pine_taiga
Old Growth Spruce Taiga	old_growth_spruce_taiga	biome.minecraft.old_growth_spruce_taiga

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID
[No displayed name]	mega_taiga	32
[No displayed name]	redwood_taiga_mutated	160

History

Java Edition
1.7.2		August 7, 2013			Jens tweeted the first image of a mega taiga, unofficially dubbed the redwood forest. The name was changed following 1.7's release.
		13w36a			Mega taiga biome and variants added, along with many other biomes.
1.13		18w16a			Renamed Redwood Taiga Hills M to Mutated Redwood Taiga Hills.
		18w19a			Renamed Mega Taiga to Giant Tree Taiga.
					Renamed Mega Taiga Hills to Giant Tree Taiga Hills.
					Renamed Mega Spruce Taiga to Giant Spruce Taiga.
					Renamed Mutated Redwood Taiga Hills to Giant Spruce Taiga Hills.
		pre5			Changed the ID redwood_taiga to giant_tree_taiga.
					Changed the ID redwood_taiga_hills to giant_tree_taiga_hills.
					Changed the ID mutated_redwood_taiga to giant_spruce_taiga.
					Changed the ID mutated_redwood_taiga_hills to giant_spruce_taiga_hills.
1.15		pre2			Foxes and berry bushes can now spawn in Giant Tree Taigas.
1.18		Experimental Snapshot 1			Giant Tree Taiga hills and Giant Spruce Taiga hills no longer generate naturally.
		experimental snapshot 6			Giant Tree Taigas and their variants are no longer considered cold biomes in terms of biome placement.
		21w40a			"Giant Tree Taiga" has been renamed to "Old Growth Pine Taiga".
					"Giant Spruce Taiga" has been renamed to to "Old Growth Spruce Taiga".
					The ID giant_tree_taiga has been changed to old_growth_pine_taiga.
					The ID giant_spruce_taiga has been changed to old_growth_spruce_taiga.
					The giant tree taiga hills and giant spruce taiga hills biomes have been removed.
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.9.0		build 1			Added mega taiga and variants, along with many other biomes.
					A block named "grassless dirt" generates in place of the current coarse dirt.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Added coarse dirt, which can generate in Old Growth Tree Taiga biomes.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			Added illager patrols, which can spawn in Old Growth Tree Taiga biomes.
1.13.0		beta 1.13.0.1			Added foxes, which can spawn in Old Growth Tree Taiga biomes.
1.16.0		beta 1.15.0.51			Wolves can now spawn in Old Growth Tree Taiga biomes.
Legacy Console Edition
TU31	CU19	1.22	Patch 3	1.0.1	Added mega taiga and variants, along with many other biomes.
		1.91			Added illager patrols, which can spawn in Old Growth Tree Taiga biomes.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added mega taiga and variants, along with many other biomes.
1.5.25					Added coarse dirt, which can generate in Old Growth Tree Taiga biomes.

Gallery

• 

  The first image released of the Old Growth Tree Taiga.

• 

  Side-by-side comparison of an Old Growth Tree Taiga (left) with an Old Growth Spruce Taiga (right).

• 

  A sunset in an Old Growth Tree Taiga.

• 

  Another sunset in an Old Growth Spruce Taiga.

• 

  A close view.

• 

  In Bedrock Edition.

• 

  Old Growth Spruce Taiga.

• 
• 

See also

• Taiga
• Snowy Taiga
• Grove

References

Biomes

View at: Template:Biomes/content [edit]