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The iconic , " upside - down " baobab tree first emerge on the island of Madagascar , Modern enquiry into its sweep evolutionary story unwrap . It ’s still not exculpated , however , how it jumped from Madagascar to Australia .
The majestic baobab tree can grow to heights of82 feet ( 25 meters)and can live thousands of years . It is often nickname " the tree diagram of lifespan " thanks to its amazing capacity to stash away water , cater food and even medical specialty from its leaves .
Baobab trees in Madagascar at sunset.
However , the origins of the baobab ( Adansonia ) have been shroud in mystery , in part because it ’s found in multiple regions . One species , Adansonia digitatais found in some 32 African state , and another , A. gregorii , is ascertain in northwestern Australia . The other six coinage are autochthonic to Madagascar .
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To untangle the industrial plant ’s cloudy evolutionary history , researcher break down the genome of all eightAdansoniaspecies and then used data on their current distribution , as well as past climatic and geologic condition , to play their issue and spread .
It’s unknown how baobabs jumped from Madagascar to Australia.
The progenitor of the eight living species of baobab likely originated on the island of Madagascar around 41.1 million years ago , while the first baobab emerge 21 million year ago , the team report in the unexampled study , which was published Wednesday ( May 15 ) in the journalNature . The daughter species then diversified between 20.6 million and 12.6 million years ago , partly due to hybridization in a phenomenon known as reticulate evolution . Their separation into distinguishable species was also likely facilitated by mountain uplift and volcanism , which created new and unequaled habitat niches with their own climates and grime .
How these trees then reached continental Africa and Australia is still unclear . In the past , some have propose that baobab fruits may have been carried by ocean currents and , in the case of Australia , even ship by humans .
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A baobab tree on the beach in Australia. These trees can grow 82 feet (25 meters) tall.
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Also get it on as " upside - down Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree " due to their sparse canopies , which resemble the root structures of other trees , monkey-bread tree are now threatened by drouth and human interference , and three of the species are nowlisted as either endangered or critically endanger .
Two of the endangered mintage , A. suarezensisandA. grandidieri , are highly inbred , according to the paper , presenting further complication for their survival . Volcanic activity and sea - level rise may have trim the handiness of their preferred home ground within the past 1 million yr . Some of the current species are also in conflict , the paper notes . For example , A. zaandA. madagascariensiscan thrive in a broad range of habitats and compete for soil with the endangered species , which have more specific demand .
