Sunday, September 25, 2005

Pesky Brazil Nut

I was lucky enough to go to the amazon last year and it still fascinates me. There are so many mind boggling facts about the amazon like, it produces 20% of the earth's oxygen or the amazon river contains 30% of the world's freshwater, that i could just list and list and list. Thanks google.

One thing in particular that just is fascinating about mother nature and the symbiosm that exists in nature is the brazil tree. This mammoth tree that grows up to 160 feet tall. They generate their own climate, make clouds and rain. Its own eco-system.

One of several things that are amazing about this tree is that it produces a pod full of seeds, those brazil nuts that no one likes. Well what's fascinating is that the pod is so hard that not a single animal in the forest, and that's thousands, has jaws strong enough to break the pod. It would take a man 20 minutes with a hacksaw to open one of these pods...The brazil tree depends on one rodent with chisel like teeth to open the pods and bury the nuts.

WOW! This mammoth tree is totally dependent on one little rodent. This tree that can house thousands of species of insects and animals in a single tree, totally dependent on one little animal. Life. Nature. Incredible that the tree that is the life blood of the forest which is perhaps the life giver of the world so closely tied to every living thing.

1 comment:

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