Tree Tuesday - Megatherium guarding a Ceiba

Its treeeeeee tuesday!!!!

Today we are going all the way to Columbia to a small village called Villavieja.

Villavieja is a village in the Huila region of Colombia whose main interest is its proximity to the Tatacoa Desert and a self proclaimed capitol of Columbian palaeontology...

Cannon S95, 6mm - f4 - 1/320 second - ISO 80

This tree took pride of place in the village square and was guarded by a rather odd looking statue. We asked a local what the errr rather odd looking statue was, and from my very basic understanding of Spanish it represented some sort of the bear that lived here many thousands of years ago.

Since then I have googled this and it turns out its a Megatherium, which is an ancestor to a ground sloth. The reason this village has a statue is to celebrate finding the remains of the largest ever mammal found in south america!

Anyway back to the tree!!!

So I believe the tree is a Ceiba which is native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas.

According to Wikipedia the trees can grow up to 70m tall and are characterised by a large branchless trunk that culminates in a large spreading canopy!

An interesting fact about the trees are that many of the south American tribes believe deities live in the in the trunks of the beautiful trees and they therefore play an important part in south american mythology!

Cannon S95, 6mm - f4 - 1/320 second - ISO 80