India's Tree-of-Life Hoax Busted

3 years ago Nature

Mysterious tree in Andhra PradeshPhoto:
Image via Rajee Sulekha

Many people know the Tree of Life, which is part of Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Florida. However, at the other end of the world, in India, where few people have heard about it and even fewer will ever visit this tree, its image has been used for an email hoax for months.

Since around June 2008, a mysterious email made the rounds in India, featuring full images of the tree and close-ups, trying to make recipients believe that the tree was: “A huge living tree located in India in which figures of animals have miraculously grown naturally all over the tree's trunk without human influence.” Depending on which region in India the email was circulated in, the tree was said to either be located in Andhra Pradesh or in Palakkad, Kerala.

Monkey and snake detail of the tree included in the email:
Tree of Life detailPhoto:
Image via Rajee Sulekha

The crafty senders even encouraged comparison with the Baobab tree, a tree species native to Africa and Australia (not India) known for its large trunks, 7 to 10 metres in diameter. This was to set the stage, no doubt, for the final assumption that the animal carvings were all natural, fossilized remains of animals or magical creatures that one day appeared by mysterious forces but not by human hand.

For those who think that most people would have shrugged this off as rubbish and deleted the email, listen to these facts: the email survived from June through October, being forwarded by trusting recipients. And, for those still not convinced, try googling “mysterious tree in Andhra Pradesh” or “mysterious tree in Nalgonda”; you'll get tens of thousands of results!

Picture of a real Baobab tree:
Baobab treePhoto:
Image: Michael Gray

Which proves what? That this could have happened only in India? Just think about the reverse, the western world falling for mysterious oriental objects or phenomena. No, the Tree-of-Life hoax generally seems to tap into our fascination with the supernatural or magical. We want to believe! And it proves, no doubt, that the craftsmen and -women Disney employed did a marvellous job.

Source: 1, 2, 3

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Written by: Simone Preuss

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Comments

Old Comments

kiran says

Feb 28th, 2010 at 12am
may be that nobody would beleive. we always see and think through the science's eye. but have anyone thought how was the life earlier than science. science is all related to human's factor. what can WE see, do, or make the things go our ways, we consider it science. why the body weight is reduced, even after few seconds, when a person dies? and where that weight, in the form of some energy, goes in just seconds? why a tree at golden temple, called DUKH BHANJANI BERI, can not cloned? how and why a person can develop 6th sense? Everyones' brain have all the information about the universe but no one has been able to get it out of the mind. what do all let this happen? I dont know will anyone beleive, the things i wrote but, the life is composed of two powers, one is known by everyone SCIENCE, and other is the forgotten one SPIRITUALITY. there do exits some powers, weather anyone would beleive or not. but they are there. so like many questions, this one too cant be answered so easily. and i m not given a chance to be a biologist, to answer this out.

kiran says

Feb 28th, 2010 at 12am
kroeker51 hi how can you say that indians are smart, if they would have been, they would have not lets the india to suffer braindrainage. instead of exploring in india many of them are doing some silly jobs in some other countries. i m an INDIAN and i m proud to be, but instead of sayin Indian, i feel more proud in saying THE EARTHIAN. because, the technology have developed so much that now its the time to that ego aside and think of saving the earth. because if we dont the earth's future is gonna be the worst for survival. please forward all the people you know to spread this awareness.

VA Subramanyam says

Dec 26th, 2009 at 12am
The Baobab tree, may not be 'native' to India. But there are a number of such trees in India. Many of them are in Madhya Pradesh. One prominent tree with a girth of a few metres is the 'centre- piece' in an Army Mess at Mhow.

kroeker51 says

Sep 11th, 2009 at 12am
@vchoy lol...so are Americans, Brits and French. I guess you represent rare smartass society? Most Indians I met are very down to earth and smarter than you btw.

vchoy says

Jun 12th, 2009 at 12am
Proves Indians are stupid