Avocados used to grow thanks to the consumption and seed dispersal by large, prehistoric animals. Now, humans keep the nutritious fruit thriving through deliberate cultivation.
Avocados aren’t just for guacamole. They also provide a window into the dinosaur age and human ingenuity.
The fatty, nutrient-rich fruit was in its prime during the Cenozoic Era when huge animals would consume it whole, travel long distances, then expel the seed in their manure to grow in a new place.
These large beings called megafauna included the giant sloth Megatherium, the rhinoceros-resembling Toxodon, and the car-sized armadillo Glyptodon.
However, about 13,000 years ago, an unknown event caused the extinction of most of these big animals from earth.
South America lost 83 percent, and 68 percent disappeared from North America.
As a result, the avocado lost its primary means of seed dispersal and propagation, though it would occasionally be a snack for larger surviving animals or have its exposed
