Tree rings

How does the exhibit work?

Count the tree rings. Which tree is the oldest one, the beech or the chestnut?

What is the science behind it?

The beech is the largest one.

Trees do not grow constantly, they don’t grow much during the winter in Belgium, for example. New wood is added to the outside. This growth is visible in the pattern of tree rings. The thicker the ring, the better the weather that year. Fast growing trees have thicker rings than slow growing ones.

Trees donated by the National Botanic Garden of Belgium

Rings of whales

To find out the age of a whale, you can also count rings. Namely the rings of its teeth or of its earwax! Yep, because a whale never cleans its ears. So its earwax accumulates every year. The older the whale, the more rings there are in its earwax rod.