How bush pigs saved Madagascar’s baobab trees

TIt is Madagascar The baobab tree, whose thick trunks and small branches dot Madagascar’s landscape, should not survive to this day. Scientists believe its large seeds were once spread by giant tortoises and giant gorilla-sized lemurs that roamed the island. When these species became extinct more than a thousand years ago due to human activity, the baobab tree was supposed to disappear as well. It didn’t happen. Siheno Andriantsaralaza of the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar and Onya Razafindratsima of the University of California, Berkeley, think they may know why.