Tree Homicide

The beauty of the Bunya Mountain National Park rainforests also harbours the deadly Strangler Fig, but unlike Drop Bears, this one is only of concern to other trees.  The fruit of this tree is attractive to a range of birds, who, after eating the figs, drop the seeds high into the crowns of other trees.  The seeds sprout and send aerial roots twining down the trunk of the host tree to the ground.  These roots establish themselves and the grim game is on.  The fig sends down more and more roots which ultimately completely encircle and strangle the doomed host tree.  The host tree dies of course, and the Strangler Fig then continues to grow in it's own right, and can become quite massive.  If they are in a more open area, they keep sending roots down and become a large tangle of roots at the base -one huge tree in one park in Brisbane it is a great Hide-and-Seek area for the children.  I failed to see a single Strangler Fig in a Bunya or Hoop Pine, and I must ask the Ranger about this:  They are certainly villains, even attacking their own kind.  Sneaky?  Foul Play?  Part of the "Survival of the fittest" game.  And people picture Mother Nature as some warm, fluffy old duck wrapped in soft cuddly clothes.