The Future of Our Forests Relies on ... Poop?

www.ozy.com [OZY]( OZY A Modern Media Company Share This Sh*t December 01, 2022 Share This Sh*t [The drop]( THE FUTURE OF OUR FORESTS RELIES ON … POOP? Poop-planting is a thing. And the larger the pooper, the more plentiful the benefits. Find out how large-animal dung dispersal helps to grow planet-saving trees. Witnessing the Poop-Planters Stephanie Vermillion in Cleveland, Ohio [@SMVermillion]( Had I not been watching for it, I might have trampled the small palm sprout at my feet. But yesterday’s unexpected elephant encounter sparked today’s walking-safari intention: to witness the curious life cycle of an African palm tree. What I didn’t anticipate? A fascination with palms and elephant poop. - Stephanie Vermillion The location: Botswana’s[Okavango Delta](, a biodiverse web of marshlands, forested islands and seasonal floodplains that remains one of the savanna elephant’s last[strongholds](. I was on safari, admiring the flora and fauna from one of the world’s largest inland deltas. What I didn’t anticipate? A fascination with palms and elephant poop. It all started the day before, when our group watched an elephant charge up to a makalani palm, shake the trunk with its 800-some-pound head, then blissfully nibble away as the palm nuts dropped like confetti. This, it turns out, is the beginning of a palm tree’s life cycle. “Elephants are keystone species; they’re responsible for seed dispersal on many islands of the Okavango Delta,” said my guide, Kebby Arabang, a Botswana local and resident tour director for [Abercrombie & Kent](. They’re responsible for most of the palms in the delta, he adds. The elephants eat the seeds then defecate them, ultimately planting palms, and numerous other species, across these lush, widely forested ecosystems. My walking safari among palms and elephant poops brought the intricacy of this interconnected ecosystem to life. It also raised an unsettling question: What happens when elephants, and forests, are simultaneously at risk? Megafauna: Big Dung, Big Results Trees are essential in the fight against climate change. These perennial plants[capture]( and store carbon from the atmosphere; they also release oxygen. Of course, you wouldn’t know it by the way we ravage them. According to[a study in Nature](, humans cut down around 15 billion trees per year. From the dawn of human civilization to the present, we’ve depleted roughly 46% of Earth’s trees. This is among the many reasons biologists like[Esteban Brenes-Mora](, Mesoamerican coordinator for conservation organization[Re:wild]( and founder of the Costa Rican Wildlife Foundation, are so fixated on animal poop. “When we talk about an ecosystem, we’re talking about a system. A system needs pieces that work together,” says Brenes-Mora, who grew up studying tapirs across Costa Rica. “Wildlife is one of the key elements of an ecosystem. They provide a lot of ecological services. One of the most important is seed dispersal.” Distance isn’t the elephant’s only gardening advantage. Another secret weapon: massive poops. Brenes-Mora says animals have two forest-gardening mechanisms: they eat then poop the seeds, or the seeds attach to them and later drop as they travel. Both forms are critical and contribute to the potential success of the plant. “We can have siblings growing around a mother tree, but they will not succeed because they will compete with the mother,” says Brenes-Mora. In many cases, the further the seed is from the mother tree, the better its odds of survival. That’s where animals lend a major hand. Take migratory birds. These flying forest gardeners eat, transport, then defecate seeds over more than 180 miles, according to a study led by scientists from the[Doñana Biological Station-CSIC in Spain](. The researchers found that seeds dropped by birds can spark entirely new plant habitats. As our planet changes, this gives at-risk flora a chance to reach places with climates more suitable to their survival. The elephant is another long-distance traveler. According to a[study out of South Africa](, the African savanna elephant can carry seeds up to 40 miles — likely farther than any other land animal. Yet distance isn’t the elephant’s only gardening advantage. Another secret weapon: massive poops. Elephants eat for [16 to 18 hours per day](. For that feasting elephant I saw in Botswana, a palm nut snack was barely the appetizer to the appetizer. A day’s worth of elephant dung, which can total more than[300 pounds](, deposits up to 3,200 seeds, according to a[study from Zimbabwe](. Down in South and Central America, another trunk-nose mammal plays an equally important horticultural role: the tapir. These[herbivores](, whose closest living relatives are the rhino and horse, weigh up to 700 pounds. “They require a lot of food, and their mouth is big enough to swallow a full seed,” said Brenes-Mora, who founded local tapir research nonprofit[Nai Conservation]( in 2015. “They can defecate a seed that’s up to six or seven centimeters long, and they defecate them hundreds of kilometers from the mother tree.” These gentle giants were rewilding forests long before[“rewilding trips” became a travel trend](. “They enjoy being in secondary and altered landscapes,” said Brenes-Mora. “They’re planting old-growth-forest trees in secondary areas or restoration areas.” //link.ozy.com/click/29858673.86105/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub3p5LmNvbS9uZXdzLWFuZC1wb2xpdGljcy9maW5uZWFzLW9uLWhpdHRpbmctaXQtYmlnLWZyb20taGlzLWNoaWxkaG9vZC1iZWRyb29tLzM5Mjg3NT91dG1fdGVybT1PWlkmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPWRhaWx5LWRvc2UmdXRtX2NvbnRlbnQ9VGh1cnNkYXlfMTIuMDEuMjI/5cc372683f92a4331dae6934Bfa2110a5 [WATCH NOW]( Help for Forests and Their Gardeners Threats facing Earth’s designated poop-planters abound. This March, the IUCN listed the African forest elephant as critically endangered and the African savanna elephant as endangered on its[red list of threatened species](. Poaching and loss of habitat are largely to blame. Tapirs, who have been gardening our planet’s forests for tens of millions of years, face population threats of their own. According to[Re:wild](, the mountain, Baird’s and Malayan tapirs are listed as endangered on the IUCN’s red list; the lowland tapir is vulnerable. Their primary struggle? Habitat destruction, largely due to cattle ranching, says Brenes-Mora. Poaching and road development also pose threats. The most powerful tool we have right now, as average human beings, is to change our diet. - Esteban Brenes-Mora Protecting wildlife is a major pillar in forest conservation. Some scientists are also[experimenting with]( other reforesting tactics, such as enticing fruit-eating animals and birds to consume, then spread, native seeds. Another reforestation technique, seed bombing, mixes native tree seeds and soil to create “seed bombs” that organizations drop from large planes over damaged areas. The planes can drop up to 100,000 seeds per flight. According to[Futurism](, this could yield a success rate of up to 70%. But how can you help?[By curbing meat consumption](, says Brenes-Mora. The most powerful tool we have right now, as average human beings, is to change our diet. Question where your food is coming from,” he said. “The main threat for large seed dispersers, like the tapir, is animal production. Therefore, the strongest individual action we can take, for those of us with the power of choice and options in the supermarket, is to stop animal consumption.” Do you have a surprising science fact to share? Tell us about it! We might do a story on it. [SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS HERE]( EPISODE 2 NOW STREAMING! 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