About the Author

Amy Attenborough

Alumni

Amy worked at Londolozi from 2014 to 2017, guiding full time before moving into the media department, where her photographic and story-telling skills shone through. Her deep love of all things wild and her spiritual connection to Africa set her writing and guiding ...

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30 Comments

on How Much Do Trees Communicate With Each Other?

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Lovely blog Amy. Interesting facts. Trees are my favourite living organisms in nature. I planted my garden full of trees. Mostly indigenous. It is so important to our wellbeing to care and protect trees.

It really is Marinda. They form the basis of it all! And often go unnoticed because they live at such a different pace to us. I’m so happy to hear that gardens in urban areas are still so full of life!

Senior Digital Ranger

Very nice, very wise, Amy. Thanks. A biologist and writer at the University of the South in the United States, David George Haskell, has written a book called “The Songs of Trees.” He delves into the subjects you mention here. It’s a delightful book.

Thanks Dave, I’m going to check it out! Have you read the Hidden Life of Trees as well?

Senior Digital Ranger

Yes, Amy, I did. About a year ago, in fact. For what it’s worth, here’s what I wrote on my Goodreads dot com review: “Some great insights into trees, and an interesting anthropomorphic spin. Unfortunately, the author (or translator) fails to write like a tree. The sentences tend to jerk in a Brownian motion fashion rather than flow, weave, and wave gently like a tree. Still an interesting book. Long live trees.”

I remember reading about this in Wohlleben’s book too! He also talks about how trees in the vicinity of a damaged or felled tree will keep it alive by sending their own sugars and water to it: a community of trees.

It’s incredible hey Callum! It points to such a high level of consciousness and community support!

It really is! It does, some of the content just blew me away! There are a lot of lessons we can learn from trees!

Also, who took the photo of the giraffe sunset? It’s spectacular!!

Hi Callum. It was taken by Guy Brunskill 🙂

Thanks Amy!

What a wonderful essay Amy. Your knowledge of nature, beyond the boundaries of the animals that inhabit Londolozi never ceases to amaze me. Who would have thought trees have such a detailed communication system. Now I wonder what the 85 ft redwood tree in my backyard is saying to the other trees in the neighborhood and its resident squirrels and birds.

Hi Denise,
I’m sure redwood trees, being so huge, have more to say than most… 😉

I would also love to know Denise!!

Hi, interesting blog! But……….. not all trees in the rest of the world have lost contact. The trees that are grown commercially like palmoil trees, yes, they did and with them all other trees planted like them.
But there is a not so new system that is catching on, called Permaculture and Foodforests etc. These systems imitate the bush and other wild situations, meaning that the life in the ground comes back so that the whole www is back!!

Hi Irene,
Indeed. I’m sure there are going to be some fascinating discoveries in the next few years when it comes to communication in nature, and not just between animals but far more between organisms whose communication is beyond the realms of human detection!

This is a really interesting blog. On UK tv in the next week or so Dame Judi Dench, the celebrated actress, is presenting a documentary on her lifelong love of trees and how they communicate with one another. It should make really fascinating viewing.

Hi Gillian,
We’ll look out for that program on our side. do you happen to know what it’s called?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/12/07/dame-judi-dench-life-now-just-trees-trees-champagne/
Hi James This is the link to the article I read. The programme is called Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees and is being shown on BBC 1 on 20th December.

Thank you, Gillian! Can’t wait to see this. I love that there are big names out there giving good publicity to trees 🙂

This is one of the most special stories we have heard in 20 years of being on safari.

Thanks for the comments Jeff!
Amy’s on leave for a few days but she’ll be thrilled to hear that!
Best regards

Thank you so much Jeff! What was it that you found particularly special?

After almost 20 years of going on safari and countless numbers of game drives, I worry about how many Rangers still focus on the Big 5 (a term I don’t like and never use in my social media postings). This story about the trees touched my heart. Trees are living entities and why shouldn’t they communicate with one another. Thank you for being the sensitive being that you are. See you in two months.

Hi Amy, Thanks for a truly inspirational piece on trees. Yes, we are all inter-connected so will send you some messages when we plan a visit to Londolozi.

You opened a whole new world to me this morning, Amy! Proof that trees DO talk and react is amazing to me. Thank you for opening yet another door that in turn expands, nurtures and educates my own inner spirit. All life, be it animal or plant, is interesting in this small world of ours!

Fabulous piece! It’s so important to emphasize how all life is connected to one another regardless of species. Londolozi does a marvelous job of reiterating that through its blogs and very existence.

Wow, intriguing ….

Just now reading this and what a gift to open on Christmas morning. Thank you for opening our eyes to the immense intelligence and connectedness of nature. Much love to you and everyone at Londoz.

Very interesting article! Never knew this about trees!

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