In the past, they have been used as a prison, a barn and a bus shelter, according to the website of Kruger National Park in South Africa. The Chapman baobab tree in Botswana, which collapsed in 2016.

Africa's ancient baobab, with its distinctive swollen trunk and known as the "tree of life," is under a new and mysterious threat, with some of the largest and oldest dying abruptly in recent years.

That was what happened to the Chapman tree of Botswana—perhaps the most historically famous baobab in the world. The rainy season that was meant to start in September 2015 didn’t begin until ...

Baobab trees — ancient, otherworldly behemoths with bulbous trunks that splinter into a constellation of spindly branches — are some of Africa's most iconic living things. Until late last year ...

Baobab trees grow in the savannah, ... a group of researchers investigated several baobabs in Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia and found that many of them were dead or dying.

Driving beyond South Africa’s Limpopo province, into the village of Chivadini, people and grassland are scarce. But the oldest living organisms in Africa — baobab trees — are abundant.

Africa’s ancient baobab, known as the “tree of life,” is under a new and mysterious threat. ... The deaths occurred in the southern African countries of Botswana, Namibia, ...

Baobab trees — ancient, otherworldly behemoths with bulbous trunks that splinter into a constellation of spindly branches — are some of Africa's most iconic living things. Until late last year ...

Until late last year, the Platland tree in South Africa, also known as Sunland, was their queen. It was the continent's biggest baobab, at 111 ft. around, 62 ft. high and more than 1,000 years old ...