Do trees feel pain?

Do trees and bushes feel pain when they lose their leaves? Let’s find out.

Signal to your brain

But first: how do humans feel pain? Imagine you’ve accidentally touched something really hot. Your hand is full of nerves that transport information to the brain – like cables. They’ll send the message “ouch, pain!” to tell your brain you’ve hurt yourself.

Trees and other plants don’t have nerves or a brain, so they can’t experience pain like we humans do.

Leaves with hairs

But some researchers think that trees and plants do feel something. Take the sensitive plant, as shown below. It appears to sense when you touch it, quickly folding its leaves. The plant is trying to protect itself from animals that might want to eat it.

Other scientists say this doesn’t prove that the sensitive plant knows it’s being touched or that it feels pain. It could just be a simple reaction caused by small hairs on the plants’ leaves. If touched, they shoot out chemical signals to all areas of the plant – like pressing an emergency button. This makes the leaves curl up.

Plants that cry

Obviously, cutting down a tree will damage it, if not kill it. That’s because it can no longer grow.

But do trees truly feel pain when a saw slices through their bark? Most researchers don’t think so. And yet we can’t be sure. It’d be much easier if plants could speak – or cry!

Answered by Naomi Vreeburg