This is how I feel about Joshua Trees. They and avocado trees produce fruit meant to be eaten and dispersed by giant ground sloths. Without them, the Joshua Trees’ range has shrunk by 90%.
(my own photos)
Not only they, but the entire Mojave ecosystem is still struggling to adapt since the loss of ground sloth dung. their chief fertilizer.
Many, many trees and plants in the Americas have widely-spaced, extremely long thorns that do nothing to discourage deer eating their leaves, but would’ve penetrated the fur of ground sloths and mammoths. Likewise, if you’ve observed a tree that drops baseball or softball-sized fruit which lies on the ground and rots, like Osage Oranges, which were great for playing catch at my school, chances are they were ground sloth or mammoth chow.
You can read about various orphaned plants and trees missing their megafauna in this poignant post:
You are not unlovable! There is always something to love! Even in a stupid, stupid universe where we have hot dogs for fingers, we get very good with our feet!
do you ever feel nostalgic about a book? like yes I read it, yes I experienced it, yes I obssessed over it. but that is not enough. i want it to never end, this constant, overwhelming feeling of being consumed by a book. i want it i want it i want it.
