Taking unexpected steps into the past

Sometimes a walk in the woods can whisk you off to the past.

Haunting calls and gnarled trees are a good start. You can be forgiven for thinking a mythical or Tolkienesque creature may appear around the next bend in the path.

Add some hairy lichen and your experience becomes positively prehistoric.

How can you tell lichen comes from a different time? Besides being so odd looking, lichen grows on just about anything and it can adapt to extreme environments (Arctic tundra, lush rainforests and barren deserts).

According to Nature magazine, scientists discovered fossilized lichens dating back some 400 million years. Now that's ancient! And yet, lichen can greet us as we can step into the woods today.

Awesome!


I certainly felt like I had tripped upon a primitive world when I spotted this lichen while hiking Partridge Island, Nova Scotia.

Comments

  1. RachelleWednesday, February 09, 2011 8:48:00 am

    v. cool photo. Makes me miss BC (I know, wrong coast, but they have lichen there, too)

    ReplyDelete
  2. FiepWednesday, February 09, 2011 11:14:00 am

    Pretty picture! Nice blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownWednesday, February 09, 2011 8:04:00 pm

    BC has monkey trees too, Rachelle! ;-)

    Hey, thanks for the feedback, Fiep. Glad you like it.

    ReplyDelete

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