Monkey puzzle tree

I know this is an old discussion, but I was trying to find out about these beautiful and amazing looking trees and I came across it. There is a very large tree like this near to where I live and it always fascinates me whenever I walk past it. One thing I've wondered is where it gets its name from, and your suggestion is a very plausible one. It would be kind of spiky and painful to climb!

hi askin123 if you could see a picture of one you would see why even cats cannot climb them as the branches, the puzzles are skinny and the oddly shaped frondlike leaves are light and give no purchase even the birds seldom perch on a monkey puzzle tree. I used to live at El dorado gardens in Tustin ca and they had two large monkey puzzle trees, they look very elegant and very odd, no other tree resembles them in any way. There are a few in southern california as they seem to like our climate.