The walking trees of Ecuador
The arboreal realm lives at a different time scale to humans, but in the wilderness of the UNESCO listed Sumaco Biosphere Reserve (some 500 species of bird, 51 of large mammals and over 6000 kinds of plant) some primeval trees walk across the landscape at a pace appreciable to humankind. They move across the forest floor as new roots grow into the ground, sometimes up to 3 cm a day. The trees are responding to the high soil erosion caused by torrential equatorial rains, leading to new root growth in search of firmer ground, sometimes 20 metres away. As they settle, the tree tilts towards them and the old roots lift into the air, taking a couple of years to fully relocate to its new better soil and sunlight.
Loz
Image credit: 1: Peter Vrsansky 2: Jason Edwards/Alamy
Read more about these “walking” palms :)
