Incredible video shows what appears to be forest 'breathing'

Incredible footage of what appears to be the earth "breathing" has captured the attention of social media users across the world.

Brian Nuttall was hiking in Apple River, Nova Scotia on Oct. 30 when he came across the strange sight of soil being slowly lifted up and down, as if the forest floor were breathing in and out. Nuttall captured video of the phenomenon on his cellphone and posted it to Facebook, where it's been shared over 95,000 times.

Many Facebook commenters speculated on what was causing the earthly "breathing" sensation. It turns out that it wasn't just Mother Nature trying to catch her breath, but that the the tree roots underneath the forest floor had detached from their moorings. When the trees are then encountered by wind, it causes their root systems to heave, creating the strange breathing illusion, according to CBC News.

"As I entered a patch of trees spared from clear cutting, I noticed the ground moving," Nuttall wrote on Facebook. The Nova Scotia man says that he believes some of the trees in the forest don't have much time left.

"The larger trees are doomed to blow down but are currently spared, the smaller trees around them help hold each other up, as the wind pushes the trees into one another," Nuttall wrote. "The punishing prevailing winds have taken their toll on the side hill, the roots have loosened and the mossy ground from the once shaded forest floor are giving way, soon to be toppled over."