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][1], 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[]
Type |
Cold |
---|---|
Rarity |
Uncommon |
Temperature |
0.3 |
Structures | |
Blocks |
Grass Block |
Grass color |
|
Foliage color |
|
Water color |
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[note 1] | 4⁄60 | 2–3 |
Fox[note 2] | 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[note 3] | 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 | 12⁄66 | 2–3 |
Pig | 10⁄66 | 1–3 |
Chicken | 10⁄66 | 2–4 |
Cow | 8⁄66 | 2–3 |
Wolf | 8⁄66 | 4 |
Fox[note 1] | 8⁄66 | 2–4 |
Glow Squid | 10⁄66 | 2–4 |
Hostile category | ||
Spider | 99⁄495 | 1 |
Zombie | 94.25⁄495 | 2–4 |
Zombie Villager | 5⁄495 | 2–4 |
Skeleton | 80⁄495 | 1–2 |
Creeper | 100⁄495 | 1 |
Slime[note 2] | 100⁄495 | 1 |
Enderman | 10⁄495 | 1–2 |
Witch | 5⁄495 | 1 |
Spider Jockey | 1⁄495 | 1 |
Chicken Jockey | 0.75⁄495 | 1 |
Ambient category | ||
Bat | 10⁄10 | 2 |
Old Growth Spruce Taiga[]
Type |
Cold |
---|---|
Rarity |
Uncommon |
Temperature |
0.25 |
Structures | |
Blocks |
Grass Block |
Grass color |
|
Foliage color |
|
Water color |
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[note 1] | 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 |
- ↑ Spawn attempt succeeds only in slime chunks.
In Bedrock Edition, old growth spruce taigas use the same mob spawning chances as old growth pine taigas.
Sounds[]
Music[]
These music tracks play while the player is in the Old Growth Taigas
Data values[]
ID[]
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 |
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[]
In Bedrock Edition.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ a b c MCPE-152452