Trees provide animals with food, protection, and stability, playing vital roles in myriad ecosystems 🌳♻️

Trees give animals:

Food 🍃🍎

From insects that suck young trees’ sap to koalas chomping mature eucalyptus trees’ leaves to woodpeckers picking out dying trees’ termites, trees are a source of food and life for all kinds of creatures. Whether they provide leaves, bark, sap, fruit, or other creatures, trees are Michelin star restaurants for the animal kingdom 😋

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Protection 🛖

All sorts of animals use trees for protection. Whether that’s a sloth staying off the ground and away from predators, fish laying eggs under the roots of a mangrove tree, or lions escaping the sun, animals depend on trees for survival. 🦥

If trees suddenly disappear, many animals become vulnerable. For example, if a lemur lives in one set of trees but eats and mates in another, they need a way to get from point A to B safely. Thus, they need tree corridors.

Stability

Along the sides of rivers, trees can keep erosion at bay and provide a stable environment both for those above the water and those in it. 🌊 If the land erodes too much or too quickly, water sources can become muddled and the surrounding land can lose precious vegetation, territory, and more. 😨

Since trees live for so long (up to several centuries, depending on the species) they can provide food, protection, stability — life — for all. Animals can rely on trees throughout their lives for stable physical and emotional lifestyles. Happy trees mean happy animals, happy ecosystems, and a happy world. 🌎

Photographs courtesy of Pexels