Fascinating Nature
Tree-t for Your Brain!
Some trees have been alive for thousands of years, and one Indian tree looks like a whole forest! Let's explore a few record-breaking trees and the people who love them.
Did you know?
The Great Banyan in Howrah, near Kolkata, spreads over about 1.89 hectares, bigger than two football fields! Its main trunk was removed in 1925, but more than 3,700 roots from its branches hold it up.
A bristlecone pine called Methuselah, in California, USA, is more than 4,800 years old! Its exact location is kept secret to protect it from damage.
In 1979, Jadav Payeng began planting trees on a bare sandbar in the Brahmaputra River in Assam. His Molai forest now covers about 550 hectares, and tigers, rhinos and elephants visit it!
Try this: Watch a Tree Sweat
On a sunny morning, gently tie a clear plastic bag around a leafy branch of a small tree or plant, using a rubber band. Check it after 3 to 4 hours. Do you see water drops inside the bag? That water came out of the leaves! Remove the bag when you finish so the leaves stay healthy.
Go further: How Trees Drink
Trees have no pumps, yet they lift water from their roots all the way to their highest leaves. The water travels up through thin tubes inside the trunk and escapes as vapour through tiny pores on the leaves, called stomata. This is called transpiration. A large oak tree can give off about 1,51,000 litres of water in a year, enough to fill thousands of buckets! This water helps make clouds and rain.