Why do trees live so much longer than, say, animals? Why do they live so long in general, sometimes thousands of years?
In: 17
A tree doesn’t have to worry about cancer (cancer happens and leads to galls, tumour-like growths, but it does not kill the tree unless it forms in a particularily unfortunate place).
A tree does not have to worry about stuff like muscles, joints, teeth or important organs becoming non-functional because a tree is less diversified than a human and can create new roots, leaves and branches as it grows. Humans on the other hand have only limited regenerative capacity (mostly the liver) and much of our healing means replacing stuff with scar tissue (which is pretty much the biological equivalent to fixing stuff with superglue and ducttape).
The dangers to a tree involve:
* Growing too much: To the point where it can no longer get enough water to sustain itself or where it’s vulnerable to being blown over or broken.
* Infection: because a tree doesn’t have a immune system like we do. They mostly just compartimentalize damaged or infected tissue and if that doesn’t work they’re screwed.
* Predation: Animals eating too much so that the tree depletes its energy reserves.
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