Senegalia welwitschii subsp. delagoensis young tree

The young Senegalia welwitschii subsp. delagoensis tree still retains small branches near the ground. Armed with paired, sharp prickles, this natural defence structure protects against browsers and passersby while saplings are vulnerable.

Once willowy, thin stems thicken into secure, stout trunks, the need for protective cover diminishes and low branches disappear. The long-term frame of main branches is already gaining strength in picture.

Most browsers will nibble and move on; elephants sometimes eat differently. They may do real damage, sometimes inflicting total destruction involving uprooting.

Flowers and seeds produced by successful trees have to be many for guaranteeing that some new trees of its kind reach maturity.

This goes better if elephant numbers don’t get out of hand either. Elephant migration routes have largely been fenced off, crisscrossed by roads or turned into farmland in people-dominated Africa. The elephants end up stuck with the trees of a limited area. As a consequence big trees of many kinds become increasingly rare in game reserves where there are elephants (Coates Palgrave, 2002).