Saturday, April 17, 2010

Walking roots at night

A key question in animal behavior is whether particular species are nocturnal or diurnal. What about plants? Flowers are often diurnal, coming out in the day and closing up at night.

What about "walking tree roots?" The type of tree shown in today's photo is sometimes referred to as having walking roots because the roots seem to step out in new directions, and the tree is supported by the maze of legs of the roots.

Do the roots walk in the daytime or at night, or both? I don't know. It is probably a silly question as it probably does not make any difference to the roots.

I took this photo on the grounds of the Capitan Suizo Resort, which is why the tree is lighted at night.

This week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site we are showing photos of Uxmal, a spectacular Mayan site in the Yucatan that is often overlooked because nearby Chichen Itza is better known. It is well worth a visit.

7 comments:

brattcat said...

I love to walk but I don't think I'd enjoy traveling this way as much.

Living In Williamsburg Virginia said...

Excellent night photo. We always love the education we get from these blogs.

Darryl and Ruth

Rob Siemann said...

Mandy did some gardening this afternoon, hope she won't have to run after her sunflowers!

Judy said...

That is a strange story, Dave.

Sharon said...

I remember these plants very well. They kind gave me a creepy feeling. What if someone took a nap under one of these trees? Would the roots grow up around that person while they were asleep and cage them in like bars on a jail cell?

Julie ScottsdaleDailyPhoto.com said...

i like this image at night. great shot

Jilly said...

What a fabulous shot. I don't think I'd want to have drunk a bottle of wine (not that I would or even could!) and meet this creature at night...scary!

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