Any idea what kind of tree that is? It's beautiful, if most unusual and unfriendly looking...

Some people call it the "Jesus tree" But seriously, it's called the "White Silk-Cotton Tree" or locally, the "Kapok Tree" This particular tree was planted in 1933 and was a gift from the city of Bogor. It's also the national tree of Puerto Rico. It can grow up to 50m in height and it's flowers have a milky aroma. Its most distinctive feature is of course the thorny bark, so it's difficult to climb. The question is how does a tree knows that thorns will make it painful and therefore deter humans and animals from climbing it? And why doesn't it want to be climbed?

i like how the focus is on the thorns. and to answer your question author....God created the tree like that.

Thanks for the comment lolipop4400. Due to the sheer height of the tree, I could not get enough DOF to "sharpen" the thorns a bit more, due of course to my poor quality equipment.

Not wanting to turn this into a religious forum, but why this particular tree with the thorns, and so few such trees on Earth? I would have thought this leviathan of a tree would have no fear of climbers damaging it, like say a thorny rose bush? And this tree has no attractive fruits as incentive for human or animal climbers, like say apple trees.