Baobabs are sometimes called «upside-down trees,» because their branches look like roots reaching skyward. Of the eight species of baobab in the world, six are confined to Madagascar, one to northern Australia and one species, Adansonia digitata, is found across the savanna regions of continental Africa.
Baobabs are sometimes called «upside-down trees», because their branches look like roots reaching skyward. Of the eight species of baobab in the world, six are confined to Madagascar, one to northern Australia and one species, Adansonia digitata, is found across the savanna regions of continental Africa.
They’re more than striking trees; they are cornerstones of African ecosystems and livelihoods. They provide fruit, fiber, medicine and shelter for both people and wildlife. But it’s their night-blooming flowers and partnership with tiny nocturnal visitors, like bats and moths, that hold the secrets of their evolution and future survival.
Baobabs have huge white flowers that are visited at night by bats and moths to drink their sweet-tasting nectar. While feeding on the nectar, the flower covers its nocturnal visitors with pollen which they carry to the next flower they visit. This transfers pollen from the male part (anther) of one flower to the female part (stigma) of the next flower.
Without this pollination, the trees would not be able to produce nutritious fruit, which African people have eaten for thousands of years, or seeds to grow the next generation of baobabs.
I’m a baobab ecologist who has studied these trees for 18 years. In my latest research, my team studied 284 baobabs across west (Ghana), east (Kenya), and southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana) to see which animals pollinated their flowers. We observed bats and moths for 205 hours, filmed and caught bats to identify them, and collected pollen from their bodies. We also compared the flowers’ shapes, nectar, and scents across the regions.
Our study found that the baobabs have different pollinators in different regions and have each adapted their flowers to suit those pollinators.
The baobabs are all genetically the same species, but their floral traits, shape, scent and nectar have evolved to suit the different pollinators in each region.
