Sunflowers 'dance' together to share sunlight.
Sunflowers 'dance' together in high-density environments
Experts have found that the plants that grow close together, casting a shadow over their neighbours, have found a way to resolve the problem through movement.
Professor Yasmine Meroz, an expert at Tel Aviv University in Israel, made the discovery after growing sunflowers in a high-density environment and photographing them as they grew.
A time-lapse film shows the plants 'dancing' to "find the best angle so each would not block the sunlight of their neighbour".
Professor Meroz said: "Previous studies have shown that if sunflowers are densely planted in a field where they shade each other they grow in a zigzag pattern - one forward and one back - so as not to be in each other's shadow.
"This way they grow side by side to maximise illumination from the sun, and therefore photosynthesis, on a collective level."