This tree is known as the 'walking tree' because it can move. If the tree needs to move, it just grows roots on that side and lets other roots die. Eventually the tree is relocated.My description above is how the tree was described to me by a guide. I agree that I can't quite picture how it would actually move without losing its support for the center of gravity of the tree. With regard to the talk of these trees being on hills: this particular tree was on the side of Arenal Volcano, so it was on a slope.
Maybe it's just a good story for guides to tell, or maybe it really works somehow. A netizen sent me a link to this MIT paper using the walking tree as an example of problem solving:
http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/papers/tree/
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