Araucaria araucana, commonly known as the monkey-puzzle tree has outlived the dinosaurs in its southern South America habitat. It can grow up to 160 feet and live for a thousand years, but the IUCN says the tree is endangered. A variety of factors have contributed to the shrinking of the temperate forests on the Andean slopes of Patagonia. Its seeds are a prized food source for the southern most parrot in the Americas, the austral parrot. The birds only eat a part of the seed and spread the fertile kernel in their droppings, which allows the tree to spread out. The pine nuts are also a favorite of the Mapuche indigenous people of the region, who grind the nuts into flour. Harvesting by humans is controlled except by the Mapuche, who have a culture of arboreal care.
The bond the Mapuche have for their tree was almost broken by industrial loggers who stripped the land in the 1990s. Mapuche clashed with the loggers and the Chilean government, but they won protection for their precious resource. Monkey puzzle trees are now protected across Patagonia. The tribe, more specifically the Quinquén community, is now replanting Araucaria trees and rediscovering their ancient cultivation practices. A community of 52 families, has a green house nursery funded by the UN where it can germinate seeds and tend young trees to be planted in nature when they are mature enough. Today in Chile there are 14.6 million hectares of native forests that absorb the majority of Chile's carbon dioxide emissions through photosynthesis. With the help of a strong ally like the Mapuche and government funding, the survivor from the Jurassic monkey puzzle will survive into the next geologic era.
