Humans seem to have an endless passion for devising ways to make more room for themselves.
Take, for instance, this tree mulcher, which may represent the acme of tree-annihilation technology.
We say technology but this four-story mecha-Godzilla appears almost brutishly simple in design. Imagine a massive set of mechanical clippers strapped onto a long steel arm.
And watch it mulch the bejesus out of just about anything.
In the video, the trees don't have time to scream.
Uploaded to YouTube back in 2012, the video has been around for a while — but its still delivering fresh chills to humans who in any small way sympathize with trees.
The clip has been viewed more than ore than 700,000 times with the most recent comments aptly expressing all the requisite shock and awe you would expect.
"It's like a paper shredder the size of a Buick that takes out whole standing trees in a couple of seconds," observes Bob Daniel. "What could possibly go wrong? "
Aaron Yu writes, "A tree that took decades to grow can now be destroyed in mere seconds. What an achievement. Great job."
YouTube citizen ShooManFu has a different take. "You all see a machine of destruction," he notes. "I see a f*cking feat of human engineering, proving how bad ass our species is."
Manufactured by Denis Cimaf, the mulcher is billed by the company as "ideal for intensive vegetation control, land clearing, roadside, transmission lines, pipeline maintenance, forest fire prevention."
And, presumably, staving off undead hordes during the imminent zombie apocalypse.
Also on HuffPost