# Simple fungi can recognize shapes, like circles and crosses, when looking for wood to eat

Source: [Earth.com](https://www.earth.com/plants/simple-fungi-can-recognize-shapes-like-circles-and-crosses-when-looking-for-wood-to-eat/) · 2026-11-10 · Earth & Climate
Page: https://themorning.science/story/simple-fungi-can-recognize-shapes-like-circles-and-crosses-when-looking-for-wood-611148f8c842225c
Kind: research · Impact: low

## In brief

- A wood-rotting fungus grown on a cross-shaped arrangement of wood blocks attached more of its threads to the outer blocks than to the inner ones.
- When grown on a circle, the fungus showed no such pattern.
- The fungus has no brain, eyes, or nerves.

## Why it matters

The findings suggest fungi can respond to the spatial layout of wood when foraging for food, which may matter for understanding how they decompose wood and colonise resources.

## Coverage

- [Simple fungi can recognize shapes, like circles and crosses, when looking for wood to eat](https://www.earth.com/plants/simple-fungi-can-recognize-shapes-like-circles-and-crosses-when-looking-for-wood-to-eat/) — Earth.com, 2026-11-10

Tags: fungi, wood decay, shape recognition, mycology, fungal behaviour

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Brief generated by AI (claude-haiku-5-5) from the reporting listed under Coverage. Headlines belong to their publishers. The Morning Science – https://themorning.science