The survival of the African baobab tree is dependent upon monkeys and baboons who eat many of the seeds - so many in fact that some seeds are not chewed. The unchewed seeds pass through their bodies and are pooped out into the desert. These seeds are then able to sprout and draw nutrients from the pile of excrement.
Holy fire
Holy fire Gardeners in Europe and the US may have a secret
weapon in the fight against disease in their gardens. An ornamental
bush, Summer Cypress, which is also known as the ‘burning
bush’ due to its deep red colour, may provide a cheap and
effective way to fight ‘filariasis’, a disfiguring
parasitic disease that affects 15 million people in Africa alone.
The bush may also be a weapon against mosquitoes who spread the
West Nile virus, which attacks the central nervous system and can
kill. Researchers have found that the bush contains a substance
which, when converted into a pheromone - a hormone which only
mosquitoes can detect, can be used to lure mosquitoes to their
deaths in artificial traps. 2 OCTOBER 1999, P. 23
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