14th March 2008
acacia
these spiky plants were spread all around amakhala and actually have a interesting relationship with giraffes. see giraffes like to eat acacia, and acacia don't like to be eaten. so the acacia have these really spiky thorns to put them off. however the giraffes can wrap their tongues around the branches and pull off the leaves without getting spiked. even if they do get spiked giraffes have adapted and don't have blood vessels in their gums, meaning they won't bleed. so the acacia needs another strategy. they have this in the form of tannin. this is a bitter substance which they release into their leaves to make them taste horrible. as well as doing this, they also release chemicals into the air which is carried to surrounding acacias, telling them to add tannin to their leaves. this means that the giraffes can't eat cause all of the leaves taste bitter. however, giraffes have got wise to this and make sure that they only feed upwind so they go to the tasty plants with the low tannin levels. ain't evolution amazing.
i've posted 509 photos taken with my canon powershot a620 - here are the last few i posted - view the rest here
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i've posted 12 photos taken on 11th January 2008 - here are the last few i posted - view the rest here
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