Vampire Tree

You may think vampires are limited to the tales of undead humans drinking blood, but you might be surprised to learn about one peculiar so-called vampire tree found in the forests of New Zealand. Scientists found vampire-like behaviour in the stump of a living kauri tree. The tree had extended its roots into an interweaving community of surrounding trees, forming what the study authors called a 'superorganism.' The vampire tree grafts its roots onto dozens or even hundreds of other trees, sucking in the water and nutrients at night that the other trees spent all day collecting. Without the water and nutrients drained from its neighbours, the kauri tree stump would most certainly be dead. It lacks green tissue of its own, according to study co-author Sebastian Leuzinger. As for why the host trees don't cut off the leaching stump, Leuzinger and his colleges theorised the vampire tree's superorganism acts as a network of water and nutrients, taking turns pumping resources to one another.