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40 Times People Saw Trees ‘Devouring’ Random Objects And Just Had To Share Proof Online
Trees grow tall and mighty, and they don't care what stands in their way. Neither signs, sculptures, nor other things that we attach to them can match their strength.
We at Bored Panda put together a list of pictures that show "hungry" trees devouring everyday objects just because they can.
So continue scrolling to remind yourself that nature is a force to be reckoned with. And if, for whatever reason, you need more proof after you're done, fire up our earlier publication about the times Mother Earth made people go "well, that sucks."
This post may include affiliate links.
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#2
Tree Grew Around This Sign, Only Leaving The Word “Help” Visible
But as much as we admire them, trees are in a lot of trouble. A recent first-of-its-kind study assessing every kind of tree native to the United States found that 11% to 16% of them are threatened with extinction.
The research was carried out across the lower 48 United States over the past five years. It was a collaboration of multiple different organizations throughout the country and even a few global contributors. The result provided a better understanding of the current condition of the local plants and a starting point to work on to protect them.
#3
This Tree Grew Around A Stone Sculpture Of A Face, Making It Appear As If There Is A Green Man Trapped Inside
#4
Nom Nom Nom
Weirdest Bi You’ll Ever Meet 4 years ago (edited)
The tree munched on the fence and spotted you looking at him. “Wanna have some?”
#5
This Sculpture Of Jesus At Abandoned Cemetery In Poland Gets Slowly Absorbed By A Tree
"We can't protect what we don't know about," said Susan Pell, Executive Director of the United States Botanic Garden. "And so we really have to have a baseline of understanding of what things are at risk."
The scientists looked at the extinction risk, patterns of geographic and taxonomic diversity, and leading threats facing the species. The most common threat turned out to be invasive and problematic pests and diseases.
#6
How?
#7
Sharing Is Caring
#8
I Am A Mailman, I Deliver To This Box Every Day
#9
Old John Deere Parked For The Last Time
"As we have warmer climates, in our northern parts of our country, we see some of these invasive insects being able to go further north to attack more trees," Pell explained.
For instance, take the Emerald Ash Borer first found in Michigan.
"The early projections when it was first discovered were that it wouldn't make it to Canada. And now with climate change, projections are going to become more widespread in Canada and certainly in the United States," Pell said.
#10
Arms In The Air And Smiling
#11
During An Engagement Shoot, We Came Across This Truck In A Tree
#12
The 'Hungry Tree', Slowing Devouring A Park Bench In Dublin, Ireland
#13
After 10 Months This Tree Has Almost Swallowed A Key
UncleRussian 4 years ago
Man tress can't afford a home but I can't afford a 2 bedroom apartment
Additional climate change threats include worsening drought conditions in parts of the country, widespread wildfires, and more intense storms with heavy rain. Other stressors for trees come from development and agriculture.
"What we’ve identified are the species that are most at risk," Pell said. "And we're also looking at some habitats that are most impressive on some of these areas and coastal environments, for example, that are under threat for development, and thinking about ways that we can conserve plants, both from a land perspective but also looking at what can we do for individual species that are really at risk."
#14
Massive Strangler Fig
Katie Lutesinger 4 years ago (edited)
Those things like to snack on entire mysterious lost temples in the jungle - a fence is small potatoes by comparison.
Daycare Attendant Sun 4 years ago
Oh, man, as a kid, we would have had our friends meetings in this tree
Alice Landers 4 years ago
Reminds me when I lived in Sarasota FL 70's those trees were magical
Cassi Lyris 4 years ago
Well it's not called the Conscientious Snuggler Fig for a reason. Gorgeous though.
Christine Ashe 4 years ago
Aren’t a tree’s root systems supposed to be 3 times the diameter of the canopy? These roots must be enormous!
Marek Čtrnáct 4 years ago
Strangler figs can drop random roots from their branches. If the root hits soil, it will thicken until it basically becomes a new trunk. These trees can grow SUPPORTS for those massive canopies.
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google slave 4 years ago
Realtor-"You'll love this next house we're going to see. It has plenty of shade."
Joseph E Fasciani 4 years ago
Fortunately, most people who read this live in climates that do not support tropical strangler trees and will never face this problem.
#15
Tree Astride A Wall
#16
You Would Squint Too, If You Had To Gobble Up A Traffic Sign
#17
This Tree Devouring The Buddha Statue
One thing they can do is protect their habitat. Specialists are also working to put at-risk trees in living collections — places like botanic gardens and arboretums.
Through the study, researchers found that there are currently 17 species of trees not found in living collections that need a new home.
#18
Trees Sucking On A Swing In New Jersey
Asteríx Viking 4 years ago
This kind of make it look safe, like "here I got you" the trees says.
#19
The Way This Tree Is Stripping The Paint Off This Sign Only To Cover Itself In Paint
#20
This Forgotten Bike That Grew Into A Tree
🫠Nobody pathetically🫡 4 years ago
“Hey oak, check out my new bike, it’s fire.” “Dats so cool, palm, I’m getting a sign for my bday.”
#21
I Lost These Glasses 10 Years Ago. Apparently, This Young Hackberry Has Taken Over Them
One of them is the Franklin Tree, also known as the Franklinia, which is native to the state of Georgia.
It was collected in the 1800s and never seen in the wild again. Now, however, it's found in over 100 living collections. An encouraging success story when you consider what is at risk if we lose threatened trees.
#22
This Tree Swallowing A Trespassing Sign
#23
This Magic 8 Ball Has Been Here For A Magical 8 Years
#24
This Tree That Has Absorbed It’s Bench Over The Years
#25
I Don’t Know Why They Had To Replace A Perfectly Good Sign
"Our livelihood is the environment," Pell said. "Trees are one of the most important organisms when it comes to the health of our natural environments here in the United States."
As we can see from the pictures, they really want to live. All we need to do is to help them more than we threaten them.
#26
Trees Get Hangry Too
#27
This Tree Grew Around A Fire Hydrant
#28
A Tree In Front Of My Parent's House Grew Around An Old Hand Grenade
#29
Was Told This Belongs Here. An Oak Tree Growing Around An Electrical Box
#30
A Victorian-Era Post Box Being Slowly Swallowed By A Tree
#31
Tree Grew Into This Rock And Made A Natural Pickaxe
#32
This Tree Grew Over A Grave Stone And Took The Cross With It
#33
My Basketball Hoop From The 90s
#34
It Knows No Limits. Tree Consumes Metal Sign On The Hiking Trail
#35
Saw This On My Lunch Break Yesterday
Potty pagan panda 4 years ago
Feel sorry for the tree really, nothing would like a pole in its side
#36
Found A Trail With A Bunch Of These
InvincibleRodent 4 years ago
That brown bear is probably glued/nailed to the bark. The tree would have taken years to grow around it, and the fabric looks pretty much new...
#37
Motorcycle In Pine. Laconia, NH
#38
Found At The Abandoned Detroit Packard Plant, A Tree Consuming A Fire Hydrant
🫠Nobody pathetically🫡 4 years ago
It is 2022,This is a time when trees have their own water bottles.
#39
Sycamore Tree In France Looks A Bit Menacing After Devouring This No Parking Sign
#40
Tree Sucking On The Silhouette Of A Hiker
#41
This Helpful Tree
#44
This Tree Trunk That Grew Around Cannonballs From The American Civil War
#45
Someone Found This While Splitting Logs
Will Cable 4 years ago
If the film is still inside and can be developed I wonder what is on it.
#46
My Grandpa Hung His Skates On A Small Tree When He Was Younger. He Forgot He Had Left Them There And Found Them Years Later
#47
Invasive Tree Swallowed The Street Light
#48
Tree Consuming Children... Sign
#49
Freak Of Nature
#50
A Forgotten Toy
#51
This Tree Engulfed The Christmas Lights
Vyxsin (she/her) 4 years ago
The burnt out bulb that killed the entire stand is buried somewhere in there!
#52
Tree Grows Between Metal And Latex Paint, Eating The Sign But Leaving It Readable
#53
A Set Of Elk Horns Someone Hung In A Tree About 50 Years Ago
#54
This Ficus Tree That Grew Around This Safe
#55
Found My Dad's Bottle Opener
#58
My Grandparents' Old Clothesline Has Been On This Tree For So Long That It Has Started To Fuse With The Tree
#59
My Sister's Tree Is Eating Her Fence
#60
The Hook I Installed For A Hammock In My Backyard
#64
Slooooorp
#65
Anyone Need Some Chains?
#68
Mmm... Live Electricity
#69
Found In Hattiesburg, MS
Staysafewarmdry 4 years ago (edited)
Since trees grow height from the top and breadth by adding outer layers of cambium, this bike did not start at the ground and end up several feet off the ground years later.
#70
Tree Eating Up A Pole With A Sign
#72
The Way This Tree Grew Around A Fence
#73
These Trees In Philadelphia That Grew Around Their Cages Like It's No Big Deal
René Sauer 4 years ago
Just imagine in 100 years or so (when nobody remembers anymore) the city decides to cut the trees for some reason. The worker starts up his chainsaw, begins to cut and bang! the chainsaw gets rebound when hitting the metal.
#74
My Dad And I Started Giving Tree "Food" 15 Years Ago
Freddie Torsten 4 years ago
Wtf??? Don't do that!! There might be toxins and stuff in that bike!! Who would do this???
#76
Found This Sucked In Stone At The Verdon Canyon. Made A Lamp Out Of It
#77
Picture Of A Photo At My Doctor’s Office. Photographer Called It “Milk, It Does A Body Wood”
#78
Was Walking Around My Neighbourhood And Found This Interesting Piece
#80
There's A Belt In This Tree
SpongeBob Pineapple 4 years ago
Don't break off my branches for "switches". Here, use this belt instead.
#85
Looks Like Someone Has A Drinking Problem
#86
My Parent's Tree Ate An Anchor. More Than 40 Years Ago
#87
The Way This Tree Has Grown Around These Signs
#89
The Way This Tree Grew Into This Fence
#97
The Gravestone Is Being Devoured By The Tree. Brookwood, UK
#99
Tree Iron
#105
The Way This Tree Grew Over The Railing
#108
This Tree That Grew Around A Bowl
#113
My Friend's Mom Found This Awesome Piece Of Wood Swallowing A Rock
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Pieter LeGrande 4 years ago
And that's why they run a metal detector over trees before running them through the sawmill
Deborah Harris 4 years ago
Proof that once we are all gone, Nature will once more have the Earth 🌎
Quitethedilemma 4 years ago
All these poor trees having to grow around and absorb our trash. Like a lot of this stuff could have been removed long before the trees ate them. It may look cool but I find this sad and it must be harmful in some way.
Wisteria Lacoss-Arnold 4 years ago
It is very harmful. A tree's bark is like a humans skin. Imagine having a sign grow into your skin! It is very painful and opens them up to infection and other nasty things. If the object is wrapped around the trunk their is also a good chance of it cutting off the circulation and literally strangling the tree to death! If you ever see anything wrapped around a tree's trunk or limbs please take it off!
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Savannah Finn 4 years ago
there was a kiddo book, and it was about a brand new red bike that got "swallowed" by a tree. The bike was real, and it actually happened but the book was about the fictional backstory. each of these pictures gave me serious nostalgia lol
Donna Sarda 4 years ago (edited)
For an astounding novel where trees form more than a backdrop (won Pulitzer 2018), read The Overstory by Richard Powers.
Pieter LeGrande 4 years ago
And that's why they run a metal detector over trees before running them through the sawmill
Deborah Harris 4 years ago
Proof that once we are all gone, Nature will once more have the Earth 🌎
Quitethedilemma 4 years ago
All these poor trees having to grow around and absorb our trash. Like a lot of this stuff could have been removed long before the trees ate them. It may look cool but I find this sad and it must be harmful in some way.
Wisteria Lacoss-Arnold 4 years ago
It is very harmful. A tree's bark is like a humans skin. Imagine having a sign grow into your skin! It is very painful and opens them up to infection and other nasty things. If the object is wrapped around the trunk their is also a good chance of it cutting off the circulation and literally strangling the tree to death! If you ever see anything wrapped around a tree's trunk or limbs please take it off!
Load More Replies... Savannah Finn 4 years ago
there was a kiddo book, and it was about a brand new red bike that got "swallowed" by a tree. The bike was real, and it actually happened but the book was about the fictional backstory. each of these pictures gave me serious nostalgia lol
Donna Sarda 4 years ago (edited)
For an astounding novel where trees form more than a backdrop (won Pulitzer 2018), read The Overstory by Richard Powers.
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