“When a tree is cut down in the forest, other trees reach out to the victim with their root tips, and send lifesaving sustenance, water, sugar, and other nutrients via the mycelium. This continuous IV drip from neighboring trees can keep the stump alive for decades, and even centuries. And they don’t only do it for their own kind. They do it for the trees of other species. Why? Is it because they know that their lives depend on the health of the whole forest? And even on beings very different from themselves? Is it possible that trees can think in longer terms than we do?”

 

by Neil deGrasse Tyson