Archive - Socotra, Yemen
May 27, 2018
Each Sunday we present a notable item from our archives. This EPOD was originally published May 23, 2012.
Photographer: Katy Hinton
Summary Author: Katy Hinton
The photo above features a bottle tree or baobab tree (Adansonia digitata) on the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra. This specimen is approximately 5 ft (1.5 m) tall. The photo was taken east of Hadibo on the way to Siqirah. Turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean wash against the rocky shoreline.
The oddly shaped baobab trees are deciduous, shedding their leaves during the dry season. Their swollen trunks are able to store thousands of gallons of water (upwards of 30,000 gallons for the biggest ones) to help them endure the harsh arid conditions where they thrive. Socotra’s long geographic isolation has fostered incredible biodiversity -- 37 percent of the archipelago’s 825 plant species are endemic. Socotra was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. Photo taken in April 2010.
Photo Details: Camera: NIKON D5000; Focal Length: 18.0mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm); Aperture: f/11.0; Exposure Time: 0.0020 s (1/500); ISO equiv: 200.
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