Whales Learn About "Tree Talk"
/Whales have been learning amazing things about the ways that trees communicate with one another. We discovered that trees communicate through their root systems (with help from some very smart organisms called mycorrhizal fungi). This fungi helps send messages to neighboring trees when they are under attack, and they help trees collaborate and share resources like water and minerals. In return, the tree supplies the fungi with sugar. This sugar helps produce the fruit of fungi - mushrooms!
Whales spent time playing an intricate game of “tree-to-fungi telephone” and we found that we could spread messages quickly around our entire Whale forest! Following our game of telephone, we went outside onto the Pacific campus to look for evidence of some of this “fungus fruit”, and we were thrilled to discover many beautiful types of mushrooms. Whales even found the exposed root systems of trees and insisted on getting down onto the ground to see if they could hear the roots talking….
The Whales are curious observers of our natural world!
