The Upside-Down Tree That Made God Angry

CHAPTER ONE: MADAGASCAR

Madagascar’s dry-deciduous and spiny forests are botanical palimpsests of a time when lemurs the size of silverbacks, adorable pygmy hippos, and thousand-pound, 10-foot-tall Elephant Birds patrolled the land. It’s believed that the characteristic spines found on so many Malagasy plants are remnants of adaptations for staving off predation from these ancient grazing titans. And though much has changed since the late Pleistocene, life on “the Eighth Continent” remains freakishly fascinating. Today, Madagascar is home to an unthinkable 200,000 plant and animal species, the lemur’s-share of which are unique to the island, with an astounding 90% of reptiles, 89% of plants, 90% of insects, 90% of birds, and 92% of mammals found nowhere else in the known universe. The master of ceremonies of which is the Buddha of the bush herself, the baddest of all asses when it comes to Malagasy trees: the great great Baobab, also known as the upside-down tree that made God angry.