Did you know that we can thank giant ground sloths for the avocados we have today? Giant ground sloths were one of the few ancient herbivores large enough to swallow avocados whole, thus serving as an important seed disperser for these delicious fruits that we know and love today!
Without sloths there would be no avocados
The extinct giant ground sloths were some of the only mammals that had digestive systems large enough to process the huge avocado seeds whole. They feasted on the fruit and then dispersed the seeds far and wide.
Megafauna. The avocado evolved in conjunction with a giant animal that lived in South America a long time ago. These included animals like the giant sloths, Lestodon or Megatherium, which were herbivores that could be almost as big as elephants.
They are thought to have originated in Mexico and Central and South America. Avocado trees were first planted in Florida in 1833 and then in California in 1856. According to NASS, California now accounts for the majority of U.S. avocado production, followed by Florida and Hawaii.
Avocados were first domesticated in tropical America, where they were cultivated as individual seedling trees before the Spanish conquest.
Avocados Saved From Extinction By Their Lifespan
Because avocados live so much longer than other fruit trees, they were able to survive until another consumer, this time hungry humans, came along.
Giant ground sloths were one of the few ancient herbivores large enough to swallow avocados whole, thus serving as an important seed disperser for these delicious fruits that we know and love today!
Australia imports avocados from New Zealand, mainly from September to March, which supplements the Australian supply during the spring/summer harvest season. In 2016-17, Australia imported 23,355 tonnes of avocados from New Zealand.
Avocados first arrived in Australia in 1840 in seed form, and were planted in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Further commercial imports of seed and plants continued over the next 110 years until by the late 1960's when a developing Australian industry began to take shape.
The leaves, bark, seeds, skin and pits of avocados contain a natural, oil-soluble fungicide called persin. Persin is not harmful to humans and is even being investigated as a treatment for breast cancer, as it has been shown in laboratory studies to cause apoptosis (programmed cell death) of breast cancer cells.
Fresh avocados are a naturally grown product. The Hass variety – the most common varietal sold in the U.S. – is not genetically modified. It is the same varietal that Rudolph Hass discovered and patented in 1935.
The large clawed sloth, or Megalonyx, was a large ground dwelling sloth which grew to about 10 feet long and weighed roughly 2,200 pounds.
Avocados are hermaphrodites (with "dichogamy" if you want to sound botanical) Many plants are hermaphrodites, with male and female sexual organs, but avocados are unique because their sexual organs don't function at the same time. UC Davis calls the avocado flowers "remarkable".
“Without larger mammals like the ground sloth to carry the seed far distances, the avocado seeds would rot where they've fallen and must compete with the parent tree for light and growth.”
It takes a sloth an entire month to digest just one leaf, meaning that they don't have much wiggle room when it comes to expending energy. Descending from the safety of the canopy to the forest floor is not only energetically very costly, it is also a suicide mission.
These animals are amazing hosts.
Unauthorized use is prohibited. Sloth fur is home to a whole ecosystem, or community of living things. Tiny animals burrow into a sloth's hair to eat delicious algae that often grows there. Hundreds of moths, beetles, cockroaches, and worms can reportedly be found on some sloths.
Due to the significant maturing of avocado trees in the past season, primarily in Western Australia and Queensland, there is a national oversupply of avocados and retail prices have fallen to a record low of $1 each early this month, says Rabobank.
Grown in the cool, clean air of tropical North Queensland, Atherton Tablelands avocados are a smashing success across Australia.
“Significant trade barriers” means Australia currently has either limited or no access to three of the largest avocado-importing markets in Asia – Japan, China and South Korea.
But Woolworths confirmed they still support local farmers and said "100% of our avocado supply is Australian grown".
Farmers have been forced to dump thousands of avocados in far north Queensland because of an oversupply of the fruit and increased transportation and packaging costs. Jan De Lai, a resident of Atherton in far north Queensland, posted the photos of the discarded avocados to Facebook after finding them at the tip.
If you can't tell, Australians like to shorten their words! Avo: this is what we call an avocado. This is a good one to know, because smashed avo (mashed avocado on toast) is very popular in Australian cafes.
Did you know that avocados are actually unfertilized dinosaur eggs?
The Aztecs knew it well and called the fruit aoacatl. Transliterated into the language of today, the original Aztec name for the avocado is ahuacatl. This name is still used in parts of Mexico where the Aztec language has not been entirely replaced by Spanish. Their word for tree is quahuitl.