XUP’s blog has a surprising and entertaining compendium of facts about avocados. My favourite among them is the fact that all the animals native to the Americas and large enough to pass avocado pits through their digestive tracts are now extinct – among them, the giant sloths that were of such interest to Thomas Jefferson.
I have generally found avocado tastiest when incorporated into the right kind of sandwiches.
Author: Milan
In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford.
Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here.
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I thought this was really cool, too. It’s like a direct connection to a world that hasn’t existed for ten thousand years.
So, logically, that means that avocados are reliant on humans just as corn is? I.e. if all humans ceased to exist, avocados would go extinct in one generation?
That seems likely, though it may be that the pits can germinate after the fruit around them has rotten away or been eaten away by smaller creatures.
This might be true, although from my experience of planting avocados they do not enjoy being perched atop the soil – they prefer to be half buried.
Perhaps it would be more logical to say that, should humans cease to cultivate them, avocados would be come considerably more rare quite quickly.
I agree.
Guacamole photo