Trees

Overview
Trees are one of the important renewable resources found in ARK: Survival Evolved. They are the primary source of and.

Harvesting
Survivors can harvest trees using their bare hands and have an innate affinity for Thatch (meaning they gather more Thatch than Wood), but suffer from recoil damage doing so. Recoil damage is avoided by using one of the many weapons or tools, and almost all weapons and tools can be used to harvest trees with the notable exception of the. The yields the most thatch, while the  yields the most wood. The provides a gather modifier for Wood, making it vastly superior (in terms of quantity-per-tree) to other Wood gathering methods.

In addition to tools, almost all creatures can damage trees - either by attacking them, sprinting into them or, in some cases, merely walking nearby. However, only a few creatures can harvest resources from trees. Among those that can, they are split between those with affinity for Thatch, and those with affinity for Wood; similar to the Pick and Hatchet, to which they are sometimes compared.

For information on the mechanics of harvesting, please see Renewable resources. Note that as the Industrial Grinder can turn 1 Wood into 5 Thatch, the best gathering technique for Thatch once you have reached this technology level, is usually to use a Wood affinity gatherer and grind it up.

Types

 * Generic Trees
 * This covers all trees not mentioned below. These trees can be harvested for and . The total yield of generic trees doesn't vary much, regardless of apparent size.


 * Swamp Trees
 * Trees found within the Swamp also yield s, with the yield related to the wood harvesting. For example, axes,, and Power-trained.
 * Interestingly, the ratio of thatch to wood that the gathers is reversed when harvesting from Mangrove Trees - gathering hundreds of thatch and minor quantities of wood, rather than its usual affinity from other trees.


 * Young Redwood Trees
 * Young Redwood trees have substantially more resources, but are not found in dense quantities, offsetting any advantage.


 * Burnt Tree
 * Burnt Trees found on Lava Biome additionally yield small amounts of . The type of tool or animal makes no difference to this yield.


 * Joshua Tree
 * Joshua Trees additionally yield tiny amounts of . The type of tool or animal makes no difference to this yield.


 * Lamp Posts
 * Lamp Posts yield, , and.
 * Unlike other trees, it is primarily carnivores that can harvest from Lamp Posts: not herbivores.