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500 BC. In Rome, King Tarquin the Proud has been sent into exile and there鈥檚 a brand new Roman republic. At around the same time, in what is now Zimbabwe, an elephant defecates after feasting on baobab fruits. A seed sprouts in the dung.

That tree grew for nearly 2500 years. It grew as the Roman Empire rose and fell, and the Kingdom of Zimbabwe flourished and collapsed, and as British colonisers came and left.聽 The Panke baobab was the oldest flowering tree in the world until 2010 鈥� when it collapsed and died.

Sadly, it is not the only one of these venerable trees to die recently. In the past 12 years, 9 of the 13 oldest baobab trees in Africa, and 5 of the 6 largest, have died. The world has lost some of its greatest living treasures, and climate change is the leading suspect.

鈥淭he loss of the largest and oldest baobabs is a wake-up call for the dramatic climate change which has started to affect many areas of the world, especially southern Africa,鈥� says botanist of Babe艧-Bolyai University in Romania.

His team estimates that the number of baobabs in Africa has halved since 1960, due to climate change, logging and the loss of the large mammals that spread the trees鈥� seeds. 鈥淲e believe that the African baobab should be considered endangered,鈥� Patrut says.

鈥淚鈥檓 really shocked,鈥� says , author of the 2004 book . 鈥淚t would be a great tragedy if they are dying off. A tremendous loss.鈥�

Ancient trees

In 2005, Patrut and colleagues in South Africa set out to study the growth patterns of African baobabs ().

These are the longest-living and largest flowering trees in the world, with wood volumes of up to 500 cubic metres. However, there are longer-lived and bigger non-flowering trees. The oldest bristlecone pine is more than 5000 years old, and the biggest giant sequoia has a wood volume of nearly 1500 cubic metres.

Patrut鈥檚 team studied and carbon-dated around 60 of the oldest baobab trees in Africa. As they worked, many of the trees died. The oldest parts of the 2100-year-old Dorslandboom in Namibia fell over and died in 2006; the 2000-year-old Glencoe tree in South Africa died in 2009; and the 1400-year-old Chapman tree in Botswana collapsed and died in 2016.

It鈥檚 not just the oldest baobabs that are dying. 鈥淲e found many young and medium-aged baobabs fallen and dead, especially in southern Africa,鈥� says Patrut.

There was an outbreak of a disease called black sooty bark mould between 2000 and 2010, he says. However, the vast majority of the dead trees showed no signs of disease. Instead, the team attributes the deaths to the climate becoming more extreme 鈥� not just hotter, but with more intense droughts and floods.

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A human cost

The loss of the old trees is disastrous for people and wildlife. Large trees provide shelter, food and even water 鈥� the thick trunks of baobabs are essentially sponges full of water. Elephants can do a lot of damage to the trees during the dry season, when they eat the bark of the trees.

People traditionally use just about every part of the tree, from the edible fruit and leaves to the bark and roots, whose fibres can be turned into ropes, baskets and clothes.

In his book, Pakenham describes how one village held a funeral for its baobab tree when it died. 鈥淭hey addressed it as 鈥榯he mother of us all鈥�,鈥� he says, and thanked it for protecting them in times of drought.

The baobab is not the only African tree suffering because of climate change. When Pakenham travelled around southern Africa in the early 2000s to research his book, he says the baobabs were fine but the iconic desert-dwelling quiver trees () had .

Bring back the baobab

With baobabs, the problem is not just that the older trees are dying, but that fewer young trees are sprouting. The seeds germinate best when eaten and dispersed by animals like elephants, says Patrut. But there are now few large animals outside protected areas.

Nevertheless, African baobabs grow fast, so if more were planted the species might have a chance of bouncing back.

And there may be something you can do to help: buy foods made from baobab fruits, which have recently been in Europe. 鈥淭he commercialisation of baobab products can provide a sustainable livelihood, while also encouraging the planting of new trees,鈥� says Patrut.