The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate — Discoveries from a Secret World

by Peter Wohlleben

Grizzly bears hibernate and so do dormice. But trees? Do they experience anything that could be compared to our nightly time-outs? The grizzly bear is a good candidate for comparison, because it follows a similar strategy to trees. In summer and early fall, it eats to lay down a thick layer of fat it can live off all winter. And this is exactly what our trees do as well. Of course, they don’t feed on blueberries or salmon, but they fuel themselves with energy from the sun, which they use to make sugar and other compounds they can hold in reserve. And they store these under their skin just like a bear. Because they can’t get any fatter (only their bones—that is to say, their wood—can grow), the best they can do is fill their tissues with food. And whereas bears can go on eating everything they can find, at some point, the trees get full.