WEBVTT - How Does the Saguaro Cactus Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. If you were to grab the nearest

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<v Speaker 1>piece of paper and draw a cactus, think not something

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<v Speaker 1>you might have in your house, but a wild desert cactus.

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<v Speaker 1>Chances are decent that the first thing that would come

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<v Speaker 1>to mind would be a tall, cylindrical cactus with a

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<v Speaker 1>couple arms sticking out from the sides with bent elbows

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<v Speaker 1>pointing upward. This is the sowarrow cactus, and it's the

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<v Speaker 1>only cactus on the planet that looks like that. In

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<v Speaker 1>spite of its iconic silhouette made popular in Hollywood, Western

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<v Speaker 1>films and Looney Tunes, of most people have never seen

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<v Speaker 1>one in real life, as it only grows in a

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<v Speaker 1>small area of the American Southwest and northern Mexico. Suarrows

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<v Speaker 1>are the tallest North American cacti, native to and common

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<v Speaker 1>throughout the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern corner of the

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<v Speaker 1>United States and northwestern Mexico. Or they can be the tallest,

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<v Speaker 1>they grow very slowly. At the age of ten years

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<v Speaker 1>a soorrow might still be less than two inches high

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<v Speaker 1>that's less than five centimeters, but over their entire lifespan,

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<v Speaker 1>which can be over one hundred and fifty years. They

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<v Speaker 1>can grow as much as forty to sixty feet tall

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<v Speaker 1>that's twelve to eighteen meters. They don't always grow their

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<v Speaker 1>iconic arms, but they can grow over twenty five of them,

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<v Speaker 1>and when they're fully hydrated and thriving, they can weigh

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<v Speaker 1>over thirty two hundred pounds that's fifteen hundred kilos. Because

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<v Speaker 1>of their size, soarrows are important to the local ecosystem

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<v Speaker 1>as they provide food and shelter for various desert animals,

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<v Speaker 1>and because they're often the tallest thing standing in the

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<v Speaker 1>desert landscape, they can fill the niche that's usually occupied

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<v Speaker 1>by trees. They are the desert go to for nesting

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<v Speaker 1>and perching birds and protection for other animals, and once

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<v Speaker 1>a sorrow has died and fallen, its decomposing body provides

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<v Speaker 1>important organic matter to the desert ecosystem. A sowarro cacti

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<v Speaker 1>have also been an important natural resource for the indigenous

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<v Speaker 1>peoples of the Sonoran Desert before the article. This episode

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<v Speaker 1>is based on How Stuffworks. Spoke by email with Kat Rumbley,

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<v Speaker 1>marketing and media manager at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

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<v Speaker 1>in Tucson, Arizona. She said, the tohono o Odam Seri

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<v Speaker 1>and other local peoples have used sowaro as a food

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<v Speaker 1>plant and used sowaro ribs as construction material. Many members

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<v Speaker 1>of the tohono Ohodam nation still harvest toarrow fruit to

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<v Speaker 1>this day, as the harvest marks their new year and

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<v Speaker 1>provides them with sowarro syrup for the year to come.

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<v Speaker 1>In the cultural traditions of the tahono Ohodam, the soarros

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<v Speaker 1>are considered people the ancestors of today's tahono Ohodam. While

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<v Speaker 1>some other cacties spread by vegetative reproduction essentially cloning. A

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<v Speaker 1>soarows reproduced by seed which they grow in stout pretty

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<v Speaker 1>cone shaped flowers that are white with a creamy yellow center.

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<v Speaker 1>It's the state flower of Arizona, and they require a

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<v Speaker 1>pollinator to get those flowers pollen from plant to plant.

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<v Speaker 1>A Rumbley explained, flowers of the sowarrow are pollinated by

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<v Speaker 1>the Lesser long nosed bat and the Mexican long tongued

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<v Speaker 1>bat at night, and by bees and birds such as

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<v Speaker 1>the white winged dove during the day. Soorrow fruits develop

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<v Speaker 1>right before summer monsoon rainfall and serve as a critical

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<v Speaker 1>food and moisture source for animals after the famine period

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<v Speaker 1>of dry early summer. Those fruits are green on the

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<v Speaker 1>outside as they develop, and can blush pinkish when they mature,

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<v Speaker 1>and many split open in a way that honestly looks

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<v Speaker 1>a little like a demigorgon from Stranger Things, but instead

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<v Speaker 1>of a gaping mall of teeth, they have bright red

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<v Speaker 1>flesh and many small black seeds. The fruit is very

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<v Speaker 1>sweet and can be eaten raw or processed into jams, syrups,

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<v Speaker 1>fruit leather, wine, or non alcoholic drinks. The seeds are

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<v Speaker 1>nutty and can be eaten raw or dried, and ground

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<v Speaker 1>and flour, which can be used in baked goods like cookies, crackers,

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<v Speaker 1>or flatbreads, or to make a tasty porridge. If the

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<v Speaker 1>fruits aren't harvested when the heavy monsoon rains come in

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<v Speaker 1>midsummer in early autumn, they're knocked from the tops of

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<v Speaker 1>the plant to the base and can be carried by

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<v Speaker 1>floods to be established in new spots. Their seeds are

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<v Speaker 1>also spread by animals that eat their fruits, and perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>especially ants which berry a surplus of sowarrow seeds in

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<v Speaker 1>their nests for their larvae to eat. Rumbly said, the

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<v Speaker 1>conditions for successful sowarrow seed germination are relatively specific, so

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<v Speaker 1>you'll notice large cohorts of cacti that are all the

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<v Speaker 1>same age due to establishment in u years. With these

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<v Speaker 1>specific conditions, saros have a pretty broad geographic range for

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<v Speaker 1>a plant that's so specifically designed for one ecosystem, but

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<v Speaker 1>cold is their kryptonite. They avoid both the cold air

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<v Speaker 1>drainage basins in the lowest areas of the Snaran Desert

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<v Speaker 1>as well as any elevations high enough to have much frost. Therefore,

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<v Speaker 1>soarrows keep to the warm air belts in the foothills

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<v Speaker 1>at the base of desert mountains within their range. The

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<v Speaker 1>sowarro currently faces threats such as wildfires, increased summer temperatures,

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<v Speaker 1>and inconsistent rainfall due to climate change, as well as

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<v Speaker 1>loss of habitat due to livestock, invasive species, and people

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<v Speaker 1>building a bunch of stuff. Rumbley said development and increased

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<v Speaker 1>urbanization within its habitat removes mature plants, eliminates the favorable

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<v Speaker 1>areas for suarrows to establish, and influences climate change by

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<v Speaker 1>producing urban heat eyeland that become inhospitable to soarows. A

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<v Speaker 1>mature soorrow can produce about a million seeds every year,

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<v Speaker 1>but even under good conditions, only a few will survive

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<v Speaker 1>to become mature cacti themselves. Changes in rainfall patterns affect

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<v Speaker 1>the establishment of young soarrows, as the younglings need dependable

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<v Speaker 1>watering and they suffer under constant record breaking high temperatures.

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<v Speaker 1>And the introduction of grazing to desert landscapes has reduced

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<v Speaker 1>nurse plant cover and is thought to be negatively affecting

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<v Speaker 1>sowarrow establishment. A rumbly said human introduced invasives such as

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<v Speaker 1>buffal grass, create fodder for wildfires that would not traditionally

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<v Speaker 1>be able to spread in the sparse desert landscape. The

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<v Speaker 1>soarrows are ill adapted to fire, as are many desert

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<v Speaker 1>endemic species, and are not able to recover from significant

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<v Speaker 1>burn events. A cattle ranchers first brought buffalo grass to

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<v Speaker 1>the area in the nineteen thirties, hoping to feed their

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<v Speaker 1>herds and control erosion. Buffalgrass is now considered invasive. It

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<v Speaker 1>can double an abundance in as little as three years.

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<v Speaker 1>Removal efforts have been ongoing since nineteen ninety and a

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<v Speaker 1>number of measures have proven successful without harming other local wildlife.

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<v Speaker 1>To learn more, including how you can help, check out

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<v Speaker 1>friendsofsowaro dot org. That's Friends of sag Uaro dot org.

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<v Speaker 1>They're not a sponsor, we just think they're pretty cool.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article the Souaro cactus

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<v Speaker 1>is an iconic symbol of the Americansouthwest on how Stuffworks

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<v Speaker 1>dot com, written by Jesslynshields. The brain Stuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot com and

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<v Speaker 1>is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my

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