Trees and other plants communicate more than you think!

Plants Are Alive

Both animals and plants are alive — they grow. The main difference between them is that plants can’t move around. Whatever they do happens in slow motion; so slow that we don’t usually notice, and it’s hard for scientists to study. So for a long time, we’ve thought they couldn’t “do” anything.

It turns out we were wrong. In fact, plants aren’t just the backdrop to everything happening in the world we live in, they are very active participants. Secretly, quietly, they’re communicating all the time with animals and people — and also with each other.

Why Do Plants Talk

For a plant species to survive, it needs to spread its seeds. They do this using pollinators, (insects or animals that carry tiny cells that make seeds). As the pollinators move around, they spread the seeds. Plants also need to protect themselves from herbivores (animals that eat plants) to survive.

Plants accomplish these things using communication.

Let’s take a peek behind the scenes at what’s going on in the hidden world of plant communication — how plants “talk” to each other, to animals, and to us.

How Plants Talk to Each Other

Far from just lounging around minding their own business, plants are actually connected to one another all the time — and it turns out they have a lot to “say!”