Published: | Updated:

WHY DO COOK PINE TREE ALWAYS GROW AT AN ANGLE? 

Cook pines have always been known to grow at peculiar angles and scientists recently discovered why - it is because they always tilt towards the equator.

On average these trees - which are native to New Caledonia - tilt by 8.55 degrees, which is twice as much as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The further the trees are from the equator the more they tilt - and researchers even found one tree in South Australia which slants at 40 degrees.

Researchers say the strange tilt is an adaptation that helps them catch more sunlight at higher latitudes. 

Scientists from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo studied 256 Cook pines, Araucaria columnaris, in five continents.

Cook pines have always been known to grow at peculiar angles and scientists recently discovered why - it is because they always tilt towards the equator

Cook pines have always been known to grow at peculiar angles and scientists recently discovered why - it is because they always tilt towards the equator

They looked at trees in 18 locations between 7 and and 35° north, and 12 and 42° south and found all trees in the northern hemisphere lean south and those in the southern hemisphere lean north.

'It's a shockingly distinct pattern,' lead researcher Matt Ritter told New Scientist.

'We got holy-smoked that there's possibly a tree that's leaning toward the equator wherever it grows', he said.

Advertisement

Read articles that feature this panel

'Oldest tree in Europe' is found in Italy, and it is STILL growing at the age of 1,230 despite experiencing extreme heat and droughts

Despite being 1,230 years-old, the oldest tree in Europe is still thriving, scientists say. The ancient Heldreich’s pine was discovered in...

Most watched News videos