A group of living things
Fungi
Fungi
Hungry cousins of animals that can link trees together
Its members' last common ancestor lived about 600 million years ago.
You and fungi last shared an ancestor about 1.3 billion years ago (on 10 September, if life's history were one year).
You are looking at cousins you never expected. Fungi are not plants, though many scientists classed them as plants until the late 1960s. DNA shows they are closer relatives of animals. Like animals, they cannot make food from sunlight. Instead they pour juices onto food outside their bodies and soak up the soup.
Their walls also show they are not plants. Plants build these walls one way, but fungi build theirs from the same tough stuff that stiffens insect shells. Most fungi hide most of their bodies as a tangled mat of pale threads, often in soil or dead wood. A mushroom is only the short-lived fruiting part, like apples on a tree.
Under forests, many fungi join with roots. About 9 in 10 land plants trade sugars to root fungi for water and nutrients. One fungus can link several plants at once into a shared network that can move nutrients and water between them.
One of the largest living things
A single honey fungus in Oregon covers about 9 square kilometres, making it one of the largest known living things.
A teaspoon of threads
One teaspoon of healthy soil can hold up to about 10 kilometres of fungal threads if laid end to end.
Living together
A lichen usually pairs a fungus with an alga. The fungus builds the body and gathers water and minerals, while its partner shares sugars made from sunlight.