1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. If you were to grab the nearest 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:16,040 Speaker 1: piece of paper and draw a cactus, think not something 4 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: you might have in your house, but a wild desert cactus. 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: Chances are decent that the first thing that would come 6 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 1: to mind would be a tall, cylindrical cactus with a 7 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: couple arms sticking out from the sides with bent elbows 8 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: pointing upward. This is the sowarrow cactus, and it's the 9 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: only cactus on the planet that looks like that. In 10 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,519 Speaker 1: spite of its iconic silhouette made popular in Hollywood, Western 11 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: films and Looney Tunes, of most people have never seen 12 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,600 Speaker 1: one in real life, as it only grows in a 13 00:00:47,640 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: small area of the American Southwest and northern Mexico. Suarrows 14 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: are the tallest North American cacti, native to and common 15 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,160 Speaker 1: throughout the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern corner of the 16 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: United States and northwestern Mexico. Or they can be the tallest, 17 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: they grow very slowly. At the age of ten years 18 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: a soorrow might still be less than two inches high 19 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: that's less than five centimeters, but over their entire lifespan, 20 00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: which can be over one hundred and fifty years. They 21 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: can grow as much as forty to sixty feet tall 22 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: that's twelve to eighteen meters. They don't always grow their 23 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: iconic arms, but they can grow over twenty five of them, 24 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:34,319 Speaker 1: and when they're fully hydrated and thriving, they can weigh 25 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: over thirty two hundred pounds that's fifteen hundred kilos. Because 26 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: of their size, soarrows are important to the local ecosystem 27 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: as they provide food and shelter for various desert animals, 28 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,120 Speaker 1: and because they're often the tallest thing standing in the 29 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,760 Speaker 1: desert landscape, they can fill the niche that's usually occupied 30 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: by trees. They are the desert go to for nesting 31 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:02,559 Speaker 1: and perching birds and protection for other animals, and once 32 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: a sorrow has died and fallen, its decomposing body provides 33 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 1: important organic matter to the desert ecosystem. A sowarro cacti 34 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: have also been an important natural resource for the indigenous 35 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: peoples of the Sonoran Desert before the article. This episode 36 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,560 Speaker 1: is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke by email with Kat Rumbley, 37 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: marketing and media manager at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum 38 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: in Tucson, Arizona. She said, the tohono o Odam Seri 39 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: and other local peoples have used sowaro as a food 40 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: plant and used sowaro ribs as construction material. Many members 41 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: of the tohono Ohodam nation still harvest toarrow fruit to 42 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: this day, as the harvest marks their new year and 43 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 1: provides them with sowarro syrup for the year to come. 44 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: In the cultural traditions of the tahono Ohodam, the soarros 45 00:02:53,720 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: are considered people the ancestors of today's tahono Ohodam. While 46 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: some other cacties spread by vegetative reproduction essentially cloning. A 47 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: soarows reproduced by seed which they grow in stout pretty 48 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,359 Speaker 1: cone shaped flowers that are white with a creamy yellow center. 49 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: It's the state flower of Arizona, and they require a 50 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: pollinator to get those flowers pollen from plant to plant. 51 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 1: A Rumbley explained, flowers of the sowarrow are pollinated by 52 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 1: the Lesser long nosed bat and the Mexican long tongued 53 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: bat at night, and by bees and birds such as 54 00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: the white winged dove during the day. Soorrow fruits develop 55 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: right before summer monsoon rainfall and serve as a critical 56 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 1: food and moisture source for animals after the famine period 57 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:48,480 Speaker 1: of dry early summer. Those fruits are green on the 58 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:51,960 Speaker 1: outside as they develop, and can blush pinkish when they mature, 59 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: and many split open in a way that honestly looks 60 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:59,040 Speaker 1: a little like a demigorgon from Stranger Things, but instead 61 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:01,760 Speaker 1: of a gaping mall of teeth, they have bright red 62 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: flesh and many small black seeds. The fruit is very 63 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: sweet and can be eaten raw or processed into jams, syrups, 64 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: fruit leather, wine, or non alcoholic drinks. The seeds are 65 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:17,240 Speaker 1: nutty and can be eaten raw or dried, and ground 66 00:04:17,240 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: and flour, which can be used in baked goods like cookies, crackers, 67 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: or flatbreads, or to make a tasty porridge. If the 68 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:29,120 Speaker 1: fruits aren't harvested when the heavy monsoon rains come in 69 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: midsummer in early autumn, they're knocked from the tops of 70 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: the plant to the base and can be carried by 71 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: floods to be established in new spots. Their seeds are 72 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: also spread by animals that eat their fruits, and perhaps 73 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: especially ants which berry a surplus of sowarrow seeds in 74 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 1: their nests for their larvae to eat. Rumbly said, the 75 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: conditions for successful sowarrow seed germination are relatively specific, so 76 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:57,960 Speaker 1: you'll notice large cohorts of cacti that are all the 77 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: same age due to establishment in u years. With these 78 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:07,359 Speaker 1: specific conditions, saros have a pretty broad geographic range for 79 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: a plant that's so specifically designed for one ecosystem, but 80 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,600 Speaker 1: cold is their kryptonite. They avoid both the cold air 81 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:18,599 Speaker 1: drainage basins in the lowest areas of the Snaran Desert 82 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:23,280 Speaker 1: as well as any elevations high enough to have much frost. Therefore, 83 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: soarrows keep to the warm air belts in the foothills 84 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: at the base of desert mountains within their range. The 85 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:36,160 Speaker 1: sowarro currently faces threats such as wildfires, increased summer temperatures, 86 00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:40,000 Speaker 1: and inconsistent rainfall due to climate change, as well as 87 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: loss of habitat due to livestock, invasive species, and people 88 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 1: building a bunch of stuff. Rumbley said development and increased 89 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: urbanization within its habitat removes mature plants, eliminates the favorable 90 00:05:54,360 --> 00:05:58,480 Speaker 1: areas for suarrows to establish, and influences climate change by 91 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: producing urban heat eyeland that become inhospitable to soarows. A 92 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: mature soorrow can produce about a million seeds every year, 93 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 1: but even under good conditions, only a few will survive 94 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:17,800 Speaker 1: to become mature cacti themselves. Changes in rainfall patterns affect 95 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: the establishment of young soarrows, as the younglings need dependable 96 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:26,039 Speaker 1: watering and they suffer under constant record breaking high temperatures. 97 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: And the introduction of grazing to desert landscapes has reduced 98 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: nurse plant cover and is thought to be negatively affecting 99 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:40,720 Speaker 1: sowarrow establishment. A rumbly said human introduced invasives such as 100 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: buffal grass, create fodder for wildfires that would not traditionally 101 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: be able to spread in the sparse desert landscape. The 102 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,720 Speaker 1: soarrows are ill adapted to fire, as are many desert 103 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: endemic species, and are not able to recover from significant 104 00:06:55,200 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 1: burn events. A cattle ranchers first brought buffalo grass to 105 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: the area in the nineteen thirties, hoping to feed their 106 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:08,839 Speaker 1: herds and control erosion. Buffalgrass is now considered invasive. It 107 00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: can double an abundance in as little as three years. 108 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:15,960 Speaker 1: Removal efforts have been ongoing since nineteen ninety and a 109 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: number of measures have proven successful without harming other local wildlife. 110 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: To learn more, including how you can help, check out 111 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:31,080 Speaker 1: friendsofsowaro dot org. That's Friends of sag Uaro dot org. 112 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: They're not a sponsor, we just think they're pretty cool. 113 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,560 Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article the Souaro cactus 114 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,640 Speaker 1: is an iconic symbol of the Americansouthwest on how Stuffworks 115 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:48,920 Speaker 1: dot com, written by Jesslynshields. The brain Stuff is production 116 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot com and 117 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my 118 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the Aheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 119 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.