Apple ring acacia pod

A botanical drawing of the seed pod of Acacia Aerolobla, a thorn tree that typically grows in river beds in desert or semi desert regions of sub-Saharan Africa. It is relished by elephant who walk miles to crop the trees. In so doing they act as seed-dispersal agents since a few of the seeds will pass through their gut and fall in a neat package of manure far away from the parent tree. Heat inside the elephant's intestine actually aids germination. I drilled a hole in one end of the hard pod and used it as a key ring.