'Today I've Grown 0.01 mm': German Pine Tree Has Its Own Twitter Account

A 17-meter-high pine tree located in the German region of Schorfheide (Brandenburg), earned the honor of being the nation's first tweeting tree, German magazine Spiegel Online reported.

Researchers at the Federal Research Institute for Forest Ecosystems have wired the tree with equipment worth several thousand euros. The equipment transfers all important data regarding the health of the tree online and is designed to find out which conditions dry out pine trees.

The experiment is, among others, related to a concern about the negative consequences of climate change.

"Trees can't run away," head of the Institute Andreas Bolte told the magazine. "They have to accept everything that happens at their location."

As a kind of fitness bracelet, the new equipment registers all stress the test tree is exposed to. It also monitors how water is transported from the roots to the crown as well as other parameters which keep the tree alive.

"I personally think that trees rather die of thirst than of hunger," Bolte said. "The same occurs with humans."

Meanwhile, all information about the tree is currently available on Twitter, where it has its own account.

"Today I have grown 0.01 mm" or "My sap has started flowing!" — you can find this and similar tweets on the tree's Twitter page.

My sap has started flowing! @TreeWatchNet #ThünenInstitute #Britz https://t.co/d7vLeYX5Pu

— TreeWatchBritz (@TreeWatchBritz) 6 мая 2016 г.

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Today I have grown 0.01 mm, transported 9 L of water at a maximum speed of 0.9 L/h. https://t.co/d7vLeZeHe4

— TreeWatchBritz (@TreeWatchBritz) 5 мая 2016 г.

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