The Secret Life of Mushrooms

The Secret Life of Fungi is not an identification guide, but rather a passport to understanding a hidden dimension of the world. It also reveals the true nature of these living entities, which sometimes take on unusual, even strange, forms.

Fungi are one of the three higher life forms on the planet, along with plants and animals. They didn't just appear out of nowhere: they began spreading throughout all ecosystems, from forests to our own bodies, 450 billion years ago. Fungi are essential ecological partners. Nearly 90% of plants live in symbiosis with them. And this cohabitation takes us back to the very first moments of botanical and animal life on Earth. A fossil recently unearthed in Saudi Arabia has shown that the ancestors of fungi could then surpass the height of trees, reaching six meters with trunks a meter in circumference. Biologists are now convinced that plants were able to colonize the Earth's continents solely thanks to fungi. The Secret Life of Fungi is not an identification guide, but rather a passport to understanding a hidden dimension of the world. It also reveals the true nature of these living entities, which sometimes take on unusual, even strange, forms.