Treesickness

The past few days have been a bit blustery in the trees! As I was setting up a few of the cameras I watched the neighboring tree crowns sway back and forth in the wind and thought how glad I was to not be in those trees…only to realize, that I myself was swaying just as much. It’s pretty disorienting when your immediate surroundings (i.e. the tree to which you’re tied) appear still, but everything else – outer branches, neighboring trees, the ground 80 feet below – is rocking side to side and up and down, all out of sync with you and one another.

I felt fine while I was in the tree and once I got down to the ground, but when I got back to my office I had the that distinct residual “just got off a boat” feeling as I stared at my computer.

This got me thinking about motion sickness, what causes it, and whether or not animals that live in particularly motion-heavy environments ever experience it. I’ll admit my research into the topic didn’t take me all that far. I found this brief post, but then dinner happened and it was Taco-French Fry Night so I really had to go. If any physiology, animal biology, or brain people (or anyone else, for that matter) want to weigh in, be my guest!

I realize that you can't tell it's windy in this photo, but at least it's a nice view.