This week, we have…

• Sponsorship

• A fun fact inspired by a recent Globle answer

• Answers to last week's games

• Reader survey

Catch me if you can: Ecuador's walking palm trees

Have you ever looked at a tree and thought "hmm, that's not in the same place it was yesterday?" If so, you may have been in Ecuador's (Globle's Dec 1 answer) Sumaco Biosphere Reserve, a forest that's home to walking palm trees. The trees, called Socratea exorrhiza, supposedly walk from shade to sunlight by growing roots in the direction they want to travel, and allowing old roots to lift and die. The process of relocating can take a couple of years, and trees can end up 20 metres away from where they began. Some scientists claim they can move two to three centimetres in one day, although others have claimed the walking palm is simply a myth. Other biologists claim that while the tree may grow new roots outwards, potentially due to soil erosion, the trunk remains in the same place over time.

One thing that's unique to walking palms is that their root system is not fully underground. Instead, the tree trunks sit several feet above ground level, with the root system exposed, giving the tree the appearance of being on stilts. Socratea exorrhiza are native to Central and South American rainforests. Aerital roots provide many benefits, such as stability, the ability to colonize new areas, and resilience in tropical storms. The root system also allows the tree to allocate more energy to above-ground growth, making it competitive in dense forests. It also makes the trees stable in swampy areas, because they have a larger base relative to their trunk size.

Learn more

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20151207-ecuadors-mysterious-walking-trees
https://www.natureandculture.org/directory/walking-palm-trees/

Trivia

Answers to last week's games

Monday, November 25 to Sunday, December 1.

Linxicon

The following are the shortest paths from last week:

• #287 trial -> verdict -> disagree -> agree

• #288 three -> more -> other -> besides -> except -> unless

• #289 pie -> bakery -> entrepreneur -> founder

• #290 primarily -> primary -> front -> direction -> motion -> slide

• #291 tomato -> mexican -> western

• #292 idea -> thinking -> math -> numbers -> four -> fourth

• #293 program -> coding -> engineer -> iron

• #294 Play now!

Forgeous

Play Forgeous for Dec 2