The Strange and the Unusual, Part 1

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

I am continually amazed and fascinated by nature’s strange creatures. From the blobfish who inhabit the dark depths of the ocean to the Philippine Tarsier, one of the smallest primates on this planet, the world is a never-ending source of the bizarre and rarely seen.

But strange creatures are not limited to the animal world. An exotic tree, the Baobab (Adansonia digitata) found in Africa, India and Australia, captures the imagination in its unusual appearance. I have often seen photographs of the baobab but until I took an ecology class, did not know much about the tree.

The baobab is a large tree, up to 100 feet tall and 35 feet wide and can live for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Adapting to its environment of a short, heavy monsoon season followed by an extended dry season frequented by wildfires, the baobab possesses a thick cork-like trunk that retains water to nourish it through the drought. Another adaptation is the sparse branches located at the top of the trunk. The tree has the appearance of being torn out of the ground and replanted with its roots extending upward.

The baobab provides the residents of the savanna with a wide array of useful products. Its bark is used for roping and cloth, the leaves and fruit, called monkey-bread, are edible. Its trunk has been used for shelter and the branches, homes for Galagos, (commonly called bushbabies), another tiny primate.

Like so many large trees, the baobab has been fallen prey to over-harvesting and clear cutting activity for agricultural purposes. In Madagascar where the baobab is its national tree, the government has established initiatives to protect and re-establish baobab forests. For the people, wildlife and the ecosystem dependent upon the survival of the baobab, let’s hope that these initiatives are successful.