Tree-mendous loss Dramatic deaths of African baobabs linked to climate change
Nine of the 13 oldest African baobab trees, which range in age from 1,100- to 2,500 years, have suddenly died and some researchers are blaming climate change.
Four of the dead were the largest baobab trees in existence, a team from the U.S., Romania and South Africa said. They “suspect that the demise… may be associated at least in part with significant modifications of climate conditions” specific to southern Africa.
The baobab is the longest-living, most enormous flowering tree in existence, according to the study. It has upward reaching branches only at the very top, creating the illusion that the tree is growing upside down with its roots stretching out towards the sky.
“We report that nine of the 13 oldest … individuals have died, or at least their oldest parts/stems have collapsed and died, over the past 12 years,” the scientists wrote in the journal Nature Plants about this“event of an unprecedented magnitude.” The team recorded data on the largest and oldest specimens of African baobabs from 2005 to 2017 — more than 60 trees in total — all of which were rooted in Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. But during their study period, the researchers discovered that the oldest and largest had died.
The eldest tree — the Panke in Zimbabwe — was found dead in 2010. It was estimated to be about 2,500 years old. Holboom — the biggest baobab — lived in Namibia and stood almost 100 feet tall and 115 feet wide.
“It is definitely shocking and dramatic to experience during our lifetime the demise of so many trees with millennial ages,” the study’s co-author, Adrian Patrut, told The Guardian.
The baobab can live for 3,000 years, according to South Africa’s Kruger National Park. It stores huge quantities of water and grows fruit edible for both humans and animals. Its leaves are boiled for medicinal purposes and its bark is used to weave cloth.
Baobabs are “very difficult to kill,” according to Kruger National Park. “They can be burnt, or stripped of their bark.”