Trees are normally stationary, which means they stay on the same spot where they were first planted. It is the same as rooted plants that are planted in gardens or grow in forests.

But there is one unique tree that is truly an exception. In Latin America, there is a tree called Socratea exorrhiza, and it can walk according to the natives. The locals believe that the tree can wander around the forest, so they called it the "walking palm tree."

A recent article on BBC News stated that the plant's ability to walk is actually because of its unusual roots. Most trees have only one trunk, but this type of palm looks like it has many due to the split roots that grow above the ground. At first glance, observers will see the tree as standing with "many legs."

The Socratea exorrhiza is mainly found in tropical rainforests of South and Central America. While growing, such tree develops thick roots that stick out from ground and continue to grow upward — several feet off the ground. With long sturdy body, they appear more like a trunk than roots.

The idea of "walking tree" began when the natives started to think that the roots are legs which enable the palm to move from one place to another. Outside of the Latin community, people also believe that the said plant can walk because for years, tourist guides in the area always tell visitors that the palm moves towards the direction of sunlight by developing roots on the side where it wants to go.

They further said that the old roots simply die as the new ones move the whole tree to another location. Some even say that it ‘walks' two to three centimeters a day which is equivalent to 20 meters a year.

However, a paleobiologist from Earth Science Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Bratislava named Peter Vransky called this belief of walking tree as a myth.

For this phenomenon, Vransky explained: "As the soil erodes, the tree grows new, long roots that find new and more solid ground, sometimes up to 20m."

He added, "Then, slowly, as the roots settle in the new soil and the tree bends patiently toward the new roots, the old roots slowly lift into the air. The whole process for the tree to relocate to a new place with better sunlight and more solid ground can take a couple of years."

Biologist and director of the Center for Sustainable Development Studies in Atenas, Costa Rica Gerardo Avalos also debunked the stories by publishing his findings about the Socratea exorrhiza.

"My paper proves that the belief of the walking palm is just a myth," Avalos told Life's Little Mysteries. "Thinking that a palm tree could actually track canopy light changes by moving slowly over the forest floor ... is a myth that tourist guides find amusing to tell visitors to the rainforest," Avalos stated on Live Science.