The Secret Beauty Of Trees
Autmn Magic. In the Northern Hemisphere autumn is round the corner. Time to celebrate the beauty of broadleaf trees. Those forest scenes were captured in Germany and surrounding Central Europe. The trees indeed exude the atmosphere of fairytales and old legends and seem to be witnesses of ancient times. But that are no primeval environments: The eccentric shapes of trunks and branches are a sign that in these forests cattle was tended to be fatten with acorns and beechnuts. Due to the century-long grazing the trunks and roots were damaged by the animals' hooves and so the unusual growth occurred. In bygone times these kind of forests were so common around the settlements in Europe that they have coined our imagination of old and primeval trees. Just think of old fairytale book illustrations that feature those gnarly fellows very often. A real virgin forest would look different though, because without intense animal husbandry trees would grow just straight to the light without developping such strange shapes. But in current times of agroindustry natural virgin forests as well as those old cultural forestscapes are endangered and the last small remains in Central Europe are worth to be protected for future generations.
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