“The Walking Palm moves a few centimeters each day!
Native to Central and South America, it can grow to around 25 meters or 82 feet. It develops long and sturdy roots that grow outwards from the base of the tree, several feet off the ground giving it the appearance of multiple legs.
“As the soil erodes, the tree grows new, long roots that find new and more solid ground, sometimes up to 20 meters,” says paleobotanist Peter Vrsansky of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava. “Then, slowly, as the roots settle in the new soil and the tree bends patiently toward the new roots, the old roots slowly lift into the air. The whole process for the tree to relocate to a new place with better sunlight and more solid ground can take a couple of years.””