4 Things About Woodpeckers
	The real woodpeckers may not be able to put on performances like Woody the Woodpecker, but they still make a special group of birds nonetheless. 1. The closest relatives of the woodpeckers are the honeyguides. Out of 204 species of woodpeckers, only the two species of wrynecks (Jynx) do not drill and drum the wood. The largest bird was the imperial woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis), that inhabited pine and oak mountain ... [read more >>]
	09 May 2008, 09:02GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Longest Plants and Algae
	The height growth of the plants is a very strenuous process. While reaching to the sky, the plants waste a lot of energy as they must fight the gravitational force. That's why the tree world giant, endowed with the right "pumps", can grow to a maximum height of 130 m (430 ft). World's tallest trees are the coast redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens). An individual measured in 2006 in Redwood National Park ( ... [read more >>]
	30 April 2008, 10:58GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Huge Waterfalls and Giant Trees: Yosemite
	Located in the central California, Yosemite National Park protects giant redwoods (Sequoia) and wild forests from the High Sierra Nevada area. The park has a surface of 304,380 ha and a remarkable landscape. With the millions of years that have passed, erosion removed the layers representing a former sea bed. Slowly but surely, currents, rivers and glaciers carved the granites found under the sediments, resulting in the modern sp ... [read more >>]
	24 April 2008, 10:20GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Why Figs Are Good for Your Health
	The common fig (Ficus carica) is one of the oldest trees cultivated by humans and mentioned even in the Bible. It is a rather small tree, up to 10 m (33 ft) tall and ramified from its base. The crown is large and with relatively few branches. The green hairy buds contain milky and sticky latex. The leaves are large, with toothed edges, and 3-5 deeply crested lobes, hairy on the lower side. The flowers are small and numerous. ... [read more >>]
	23 April 2008, 10:31GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

World's Oldest Living Tree: An 8,000-Year-Old Swedish Tree
	This is a real surprise: this cluster of spruces in the mountains in western Sweden, at an age of 8,000 years, may be not only the world's oldest living trees, but also the most aged being on the planet. The spruces were found growing high on a mountain side, that's why they were protected from logging, but stood harsh clime conditions. "Carbon dating of the trees carried out at a laboratory in Miami, Florid ... [read more >>]
	14 April 2008, 03:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Buy a Tree, Save the World and Get Free Google Earth Goodies
	The people of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have found a pretty remarkable way to lure people into buying trees and plant them in Indonesia. In fact, all the users have to do is to donate money and wait for the tree to be planted in the Sebangau National Forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. What’s interesting is that after buying the tree you also get a KML file that lets you import a new location in Google Earth. The coordin ... [read more >>]
	25 March 2008, 15:31GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Sausages Growing in the Trees
	You may have heard about breadfruit trees. This is the sausage tree, to complete the hot dog. When thinking about the trees of the African savanna, baobabs, acacias and eventually mopane trees come into your mind. But one of the most original trees of the African savanna is the Sausage Tree (Kigelia africana), a tree found throughout tropical Africa from Senegal to Eritrea and Chad, and southwards to northern South Africa and ... [read more >>]
	25 March 2008, 10:25GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

One Miracle: The Petrified Forest
	One of the wonders of the American southwest is found in northeastern Arizona: an enormous petrified forest, a real geological treasure the scientists learned about to the end of the 19th century. Petrified Forest National Park from Arizona comprises a surface of 218,533 acres (341.5 sq mi; 885 km²) of petrified wood, mostly of the coniferous species Araucarioxylon arizonicum, 170 million years old, since the Jurassic epoch. ... [read more >>]
	20 March 2008, 10:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

5 Amazing Things About the World's Tallest and Largest Trees
	1. Gymnosperms dominated the Earth's flora during the Dinosaur Era until the emergence of the flower plants (Angiosperms) during the last period of the dinos' domination. They appeared 300 million years ago and reached the climax of their development 120 million years ago. Still, one group of gymnosperms is still flourishing: the coniferous. In their niche of cold forests, they dominate. The genus Pinus (pines) has about 100 spec ... [read more >>]
	08 February 2008, 10:10GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How Could Dinosaurs Reach over 110 Tonnes by Eating Ferns and Gingko?
	The largest ever land animals were the enormous plant-eater dinosaurs called sauropods, of which Apatosaurus (former Brontosaurus) is the best known. These creatures could grow up to 42 m (130 ft) in length (but the neck and tail could be longer than their body) and at least 110 tons in weight. Researchers have been puzzled by one thing: these reptiles ate ferns, ginkgoes, conifers and related plants, as the flowering plants ... [read more >>]
	08 February 2008, 03:30GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Bonsai, the Art of Dwarfing Trees
	Those Japanese can deliver you, like in a flowerpot, a 40 cm high oak tree, which may be older than you. Bonsai is the Japanese art of the miniature trees, but its roots are found in China, and the name bonsai comes from the Chinese "pun sai" (pun means "pot" and sai "tree"). This art originated during the 3rd century AD, when China was ruled by the Han dynasty. 900 years ago, this art was exported to Japan by ... [read more >>]
	07 February 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How Is Chocolate Made?
	The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) is believed to have originated in South America, in the basins of Amazon or Orinoco. In 1502, Columbus was the first European to encounter the tree during his fourth voyage, but he completely ignored the fruits resembling a melon. Two decades later, Hernan Cortes observed with amazement how the Aztec emperor Moctezuma enjoyed a cup of xocolatl (both "chocolate" and "cacao" ... [read more >>]
	29 January 2008, 07:03GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

8 Things You Did Not Know About Bananas
	1. Despite the name of banana tree, Musa paradisiaca is a 7-8 m (23-27 ft) tall and robust grass, with a tree-like aspect. It has a false trunk made of the well developed sheaths of the leaves wrapping each other (the proper stem is very short). Upper leaves are very large, over 2 m (6.6 ft) in length and 40 cm (1.3 ft) wide. The plant originated in tropical Asia. 2. Flowers are hermaphrodite or unisex. At the end of the fals ... [read more >>]
	26 January 2008, 04:02GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

5 Things About Timber Industry
	1. Timber is at great demand because it is accessible, ductile, processable, can be combined and has a nice look. Wood has a specific pattern, depending on the species. This is the most visible in longitudinal sections, when the inner structure can be deduced. 2. Another trait of the timber is the existence of knots, circular or oval. Their shape depends on the angle of the log cut. Knots represent the inner part of the branc ... [read more >>]
	16 January 2008, 07:15GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

8 Things You Did Not Know About Ferns
	1.The first ferns appeared 350 million years ago. They form a plant group called Pteridophyta. These are the first superior plants, having a cuticle impermeable to water, roots and an inner tissue specialized for transporting water and nutrients between the water absorbing organs (roots) and food producing ones (leaves), unlike mosses that got out of the water at the same time. These traits ensured the exit of the first ferns an ... [read more >>]
	11 January 2008, 08:29GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

...Eat Palmito (Heart of Palm)!
	Palm trees are more than the symbol of tropical beaches. Many have eatable fruits (dates and coconut are the most famous), while the wood is employed for building houses, including covering of the floors, and the leaves are employed for making of roofings, parquets, brooms and baskets. Starch is extracted from the sago palm. But perhaps one of the least known and exquisite products of the palm trees is the palmito, or 'h ... [read more >>]
	27 December 2007, 09:54GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Great Tree
	Surfing through different casual game developer’s pages, I came across Reflexive, which is a very well known name in this industry. This month they are preparing the release of a new game that I promise, will be pretty amazing. Now, think a bit... What's the result if you put games like Monarch: The Butterfly King and Neon Wars together? Well, pretty easy... It’s The Great Tree, Reflexive's up to come release. The story of thi ... [read more >>]
	30 November 2007, 09:34GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

About Trees and Wood
	An oak with a 37 cm trunk diameter has about 119,000 leaves while a pine with a trunk of 60-70 cm in diameter has 30-40 million needle leaves. An oak eliminates in a warm summer through its leaves about 10 tonnes of water. There is only one place in the world, at the north of the Panama Channel, where trees with a square trunk can be found. They belong to the genus Quararibea and are related to baobabs. The bamboo is the ... [read more >>]
	23 November 2007, 15:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Magnolia Bark Extract Fights Off Tooth Decay and Bad Breath
	Even the dinosaurs enjoyed the fragrance of the magnolia blossoms, as this is one of the oldest flowering tree types in the world. But they are more than beautiful flowers: the bark of these trees contains polyphenols, that's why it was used for centuries by the Chinese and Japanese medicine. Now the magnolia bark’s chemicals will be used against bad breath. A team in Illinois has pointed in a research published in ACS’ ... [read more >>]
	20 November 2007, 02:52GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Largest Land Invertebrate: Coconut Crab
	This is the whale of the ground-dwelling arhtropods (articulated-feet invertebrates). The coconut crab, also called the robber crab (because it is believed to steal shiny objects, like a magpie), lives only on the tropical islands of Indian and Pacific Oceans (Christmas, Seychelles, Cook, Andaman, Nicobar, Carolines). There are larger crabs living in the sea, their weight being "supported" by the water! The adult crabs can rea ... [read more >>]
	19 November 2007, 14:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Trees Linked to Graveyards
	Since ancient times, people associated the idea of the immortality of the soul, rooted in Plato's teachings, with evergreen plants. With a right trunk, arched branches and fusiform treetop, the cypress tree is generally recognized as the funerary tree in the Mediterranean area. In antiquity, this tree, always green and with a large lifespan was dedicated to god Pluto, lord of Hell. Its funerary symbolism comes from the classic myth of ... [read more >>]
	14 November 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Nature's Largest Fruits and Seeds
	There are pumpkins that could make a nice Halloween ‘lamp’ for an elephant. By selection, patience and a little bit of luck and the passion of the cultivators of the variety of Atlantic Giant pumpkins have obtained squashes weighing up to 760 kg (1,689-pound). But remember: these are man-selected plants, which reach such colossal dimensions only when grown on an organic compost with added fertilizers (like nitrogen, potassium and phosp ... [read more >>]
	12 November 2007, 15:36GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

World's Largest Trees to be Saved through Cloning
	Sequoia (redwoods) are the largest trees in the world and at the same time amongst the most long-lived ones, having a long lifespan (of millennia). A specimen of coast redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) found in 2006 in a remote forest in Redwood National Park (Northern California) proved to be the world’s tallest tree. Called Hyperion, the tree was 379.1 ft (126.4 m) tall. Such giants survive today only in National Parks, o ... [read more >>]
	05 November 2007, 04:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Gibbons: 5 Unknown Issues
	1. Gibbons are the smallest living apes. They are restricted to the southeastern Asia (Indochina, and three big islands of Indonesia: Borneo, Sumatra and Java). Gibbons split from the line that evolved towards humans over 10 million years ago. Experts say that all living gibbons evolved from one species, 2 million years ago. There are 13 species of gibbons living today, but each one has its own areal separated from that of the othe ... [read more >>]
	22 October 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

7 Things You Did Not Know About Chameleons
	1. The Chameleons' closest relatives are ...the iguanas and dragon lizards (Agamidae). In fact, there are iguanas living in Americas called false chameleons, that resemble a lot the real chameleons of the Old World, and even have the ability of changing their color. The oldest known chameleon is the Mimeosaurus, from the Upper Cretaceous (during the dinosaur times) of Mongolia. It already had a high skull with a marked helmet. Tod ... [read more >>]
	20 October 2007, 07:53GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Amazing: Fish Living in Trees!
	By definition, a fish lives in water. Some may burrow during the dry season, breathing – through lungs, intestine membrane, labyrinths or other specialized organs – oxygen from the air, but they have an active life in the water. Mudskippers, relatives of the gobies, cope well with life on the wet mud of the mangroves. But mangroves have now come with something that challenges the classic ‘definition’ of fish: a species that l ... [read more >>]
	20 October 2007, 05:44GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

9 Things You Did Not Know About Orangutans
	1. The Orangutan is the only Asian ape, closely related to humans, chimps and gorillas, from which they split more than 8 million years ago. Today they live in the islands of Borneo and Sumatra (southeastern Asia). Till recently, they were believed to represent the same species, but DNA analysis showed there are two species: Borneo orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) (12,500 to 20,500 individuals) and Sumatra orangutan (Pongo abelli) from northern ... [read more >>]
	18 October 2007, 13:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Stinky Chemistry of Sex
	Cycad palms are some of the oldest trees on Earth. Even if they resemble a palm tree, they are much more primitive, being gymnosperm related to the coniferous trees. They appeared 280 millions year ago, when reptiles were just evolving from amphibians, and dominated the Earth for a long time during the dinosaur era till the emergence of the modern flower plants. Now they are just relict in the planet's warm areas. A new research ma ... [read more >>]
	05 October 2007, 07:12GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Why Do Bears Rub Their Back against the Trees?
	There's no itch as far as the bears' habit of rubbing their back against trees is concerned. In fact, this has been found to be a scent mark, warning others to keep off from the real master of the place. Many theories tried to explain this habit. Some believed females could do it when they were at the peak of their fertility, while others thought that bears just attempt to cover their backs in sap, employed as insec ... [read more >>]
	06 September 2007, 07:34GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

African Rush for Potency Threatens the Sex Tree with Extinction!
	The secret of the African potency goes from yohimbe and buffalo beans in West Africa to the sex tree of Uganda. The sex tree, Citropsis articulata is a short humble bush related to the citrus trees and grows in Uganda's rain forest. Now it faces extinction as African lover boys overharvest its roots due to their supposed aphrodisiac and anti-impotence qualities. The bush is now quickly disappearing from Uganda's Mabira Forest ... [read more >>]
	04 August 2007, 06:31GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Fossil Trees Still Having Wood!
	This is somehow like the case of the frozen mammoths that still have meat on them. But if those mammoths are tens of thousands of years old, these trees are 8 million years, dating back from the time when Europe was a subtropical wet paradise. The trees look like ghost forests, but this rare cluster of fossilized trees can offer a lot of information to the scientists. The 8 million-year-old swamp cypress forest was discovered ... [read more >>]
	02 August 2007, 07:07GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Trees on Mars!
	If one looked for a place on Earth resembling the conditions on Mars, scientists found that Mexico's highest (dormant) volcano would fit. Now pine forests growing on slopes of the 13,780 feet (4,590 m) snow-capped Pico de Orizaba are investigated to see if trees could grow on a warmed Mars, as part of a vision of turning the chilly red planet into a human habitat in the future. NASA is collaborating with Mexican universities to se ... [read more >>]
	17 July 2007, 05:12GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Rarest and Most Mysterious Orchid: the Ghost Orchid
	This is the rarest and most mysterious orchid in the world and its vernacular name is the ghost orchid. Now, a specimen has been discovered growing high in an old cypress tree in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples (southwest Florida). The Ghost Orchid (Polyrrhiza lindenii) is also called Palm Polly and White Frog Orchid and got the fame with the non-fiction book "The Orchid Thief" and the movie based on the book, "Adapta ... [read more >>]
	13 July 2007, 04:28GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Kapok Connection: Africa and South America Were Once Joined
	The kapok tree is going to solve a mystery that has puzzled the biologists for a long time: the similarity between African and South American rainforests. The two continents split 130 millions years ago; still, their forests are too similar, and it seems that 96 million years ago, they were still exchanging flora. A team led by evolutionary ecologist Christopher Dick at the University of Michigan showed that kapok, and perhaps other ... [read more >>]
	18 June 2007, 05:32GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Stenchiest Fruit in the World
	Linden trees produce one of the most suave and persistent scent that a tree can produce but one of its relatives is the skunk of the fruits' world: the durian fruit, the product of the trees of the genus Durio. In Southeast Asia is named the "King of Fruits," even if airlines, subways, hotels and public transportation in those countries do not allow clientele to enter them with durian in their possession. Still, the v ... [read more >>]
	12 June 2007, 02:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

What's Good for a Baobab?
	David Livingstone said about this tree that "it’s like a carrot planted upside down". The baobab (Adansonia digitata) is named after the first explorer who discovered it, Michel Adanson, in 1749 in Senegal. There are 6 baobabs living in Madagascar, 1 in African savanna and 1 in the Australian savanna, like a proof of the existence in the past of just one southern continent, Gondwana. The baobab is an enormous tree, but no ... [read more >>]
	06 June 2007, 11:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Most Grotesque Plant on Earth
	This plant seems to be born from the imagination of the science fiction movie makers. Welwitschia mirabilis is just a snag with only two leaves and it has been called officially the most hideous plant on Earth at Chelsea Flower Show. This plant grows just on the dunes of Namibia's and Angola's Skeleton Coast, in the middle of one of the most arid and barren deserts on Earth. Even so, the plant is fast disappearing from the gr ... [read more >>]
	04 June 2007, 09:26GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

... Get Cork
	Your strategy of "conquering" a girl includes a bottle of good wine or Champaign, but have you ever wondered where does the cork come from? Cork is the product of an oak! In some coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, like Spain, France, Italy, but also in the African coast (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) and outside (Portugal) real forests of cork oaks grow. This tree can grow up to 10-11 m (30-33 ft) tall (cultivated even to 20 ... [read more >>]
	05 March 2007, 10:46GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia