The Light Eaters

A narrative investigation into the new science of plant intelligence and sentience, by Zoë Schlanger.

Look at the green organism across the room or the potted plant, or the grass, or a tree. Think how a life spent constantly growing yet rooted in a single spot comes with tremendous challenges. To meet them, plants have come up with some of the most creative methods for surviving of any living thing, us included. Many are so ingenious that they seem nearly impossible.

There is no doubt that plants — or their green precursors, the blue-green algae and algae — have produced all the oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere, allowing animals to evolve.

But did you know they can communicate when they are being eaten, allowing nearby plants to bolster their defences? They move, and that movement stops when they are anaesthetised, just like animals. They also use electricity for internal communication, just like animals. They can hear the sounds of caterpillars eating, just like animals.

Plants can remember the last time they were visited by a bee and how many times they've been visited, so they have a concept of time and can count, just like animals. Plants can not only communicate with each other, they can also communicate with other species of plants and animals, allowing them to manipulate animals to defend or fertilize them. This is unlike most other animals.

So look again at the potted plant, or the grass or the tree. Are plants intelligent? Perhaps more fundamental: are they conscious? Is the only real difference between animals and plants that plants are light eaters and animals aren’t?

The Light Eaters will completely redefine how you think of plants. Packed with the most amazing stories of the life of plants, it will open your eyes to the extraordinary green life forms we share the planet with. Of course, like animals, plants can also detect light.

Endorsements

Zoë Schlanger — National Association of Science Writers Award winner and Livingston Award finalist.