This post is about a Ficus ingens strangling fig growing next to the Ngoitokitok freshwater spring and swamp located on the floor of the Ngorongoro carter in N. Tanzania E. Africa
The Ngorongoro crater in N. Tanzania (E. Africa) is one of the worlds top wildlife watching destinations with over 750,000 visitors a year. The crater itself is only c. 26,000 ha in area but is surrounded by vast areas of savannah grassland and acacia thorn tree woodland in N. Tanzania and S. Kenya. Inside the Ngorongoro crater alone there are an estimated 25,000 large mammals including elephants, black rhinos and numerous species of both grazing and browsing antelopes and ungulates such as Cape buffaloes and Zebras. The main reason the crater is so rich in wildlife is the rich volcanic soil combined with both salt water and freshwater pools and springs providing many micro habitats.
In Asia elephants are known to attack and eat young fig trees and can be a pest for reafforestation projects planting sapling figs for wildlife. I was therefore interested to find out how African savannah fig species are adapted to survive in the Ngorongoro Crater surrounded by such a high density and variety of herbivores. Below is a partial explanation.
Ficus ingens is a common wayside fig of grassland and woodland throughout south and east Africa north to Ethiopia.
Note that this fig is growing in a pile of rocks, next to a lake. The numerous exposed roots are intertwined amongst the rocks providing both support and protection against bark eating herbivores. On the side of the lake the lowest branches are around 3m above the lake surface’ whereas on the landward side the lowest branches are approximately 6 meters above ground level. The bark of the multiple trunks of the fig have been heavily attacked and damaged, but on the landward side only.
Only a an elephant with tusks could have caused this type of damage. In open African grassland savannah this fig would never have survived.
