Photo of the Day

people harvesting rubber sap in China
March 14, 2016

A Slow Draw

Because rubber sap flows best at night, tappers in Xishuangbanna, China, use headlamps to light the trees while they work, as shown in this time exposure. The latex drips into cups from incisions in the bark. A typical tree produces a few ounces’ worth of rubber a day.

See more pictures from the January 2016 feature story "Why We (Still) Can’t Live Without Rubber."

Photograph by Richard Barnes

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