Some Forests You have To See To Believe!
From Australian lyrebirds, natural mimics that can repeat virtually any sound they hear to the pouty-lipped galapagos batfish that haunts equatorial oceans deep, the discerning observer will find that nature can be stranger than fiction. And while bright red lips on a deep-water fish may seem entirely unnecessary, in nature, there's a reason for everything. In order to thrive, entire ecosystems adapt to their respective environments in some extraordinarily bizarre and mind-bending ways.Fans of all things weird and wonderful will be pleased to know that trees and forests are no exception to this. So, in the spirit of the unusual, here are a few of the most amazing earthbound trees and forests you’ll want to believe in.
CROOKED FOREST, POLAND
Have you ever seen trees that grow in a near perfect semi-circle?That’s what you'll find in a section of forest outside the small town of Gryfino, Poland. Some 400 pine trees have grown in the shape of a slanted J, all of them with the belly of the J pointing North. Even more strange: they're surrounded by trees happily growing in the old fashioned manner, straight up towards the sky. From tanks rolling over them during WWII, to strange gravitational pull, to humans bending the trees themselves to make curved wood for boats, many theories have been posed. But in the end, no one really knows why they're bent.
DRAGON BLOOD TREES, YEMEN
Trees that bleed? Now that’s straight out of the Twilight Zone. The Dragon Blood trees on the Yemeni island of Socotra are some of the most unique and abstract looking vegetative species on the planet. Their umbrella shape, made up of thick plentiful branches make the trees look like gigantic, dried-out broccoli sprouting up from the desert landscape. Around the Mediterranean basin it is used as a dye and as a medicine, Socotrans use it ornamentally as well as dyeing wool, gluing pottery, a breath freshener, and lipstick. Because of the belief that it is the blood of the dragon it is also used in ritual magic and alchemy. Pretty amazing, right?
SUNKEN FOREST, KAZAKHSTAN
Kind of the exact opposite of the Deadvlei, the Sunken Forest in Kazakhstan is made up of tree trunks jutting out of Lake Kaindy’s surface. After a landslide caused by an earthquake in 1911 formed a natural dam, rain and river water from the surrounding mountains filled the newly formed lake and drowned the trees. Now all that remains above the water are limbless tree trucks protruding skywards like a series of telephone poles. However, below the water’s surface, a whole new habitat has grown. The submerged portions of the trees are now covered in a wide variety of algae and other water plants, creating the illusion of a dense underwater forest. One habitat lost, another gained!
GOBLIN FOREST, NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand is a fantastical land of mountains, forests, and some of the most incredible biodiversity — like hobbits! No, not really. But they do have a Goblin Forest! The forests of Egmont National Park are something out of a fairy tale. The twisted and gnarled branches of the native Kamahi trees are almost completely engulfed by moss, lichen and other hanging vegetation. Sitting at the base of a volcano, an eruption around 400 years ago felled most of the forest. This gave the Kamahi trees an opportunity to take over and thrive. The hardy tree enjoys starting off its life growing on the surface of other plants, fallen branches, and brush
Plant A Tree To Help Keep Forests Weird!
The forests of Earth truly are amazing, and this list only cracks the surface of the weird and wonderful world of nature's diversity. You don't have to look far to find more of the beautiful oddities Mother Nature has to offer.
Though not nearly as strange, our planting projects around the world make sure the forests of the world offer just as much awe-inspiring nature as New Zealand's Goblin Forest, or Sunken Forest of Kazakhstan. Want to help keep our forests weird? Plant a tree today!
Comments
Post a Comment