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How Fig Trees Could Revolutionize Reforestation
NGOs in the Malaysian state of Sabah want oil palm companies and other land managers to plant Ficus species to increase habitat for threatened wildlife
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Mike Shanahan
3
How Heat Could Silence the Forest’s Heartbeat
From the wings of tiny creatures hang the fates of hundreds of bird and mammal species, and perhaps even entire rainforests.
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Mike Shanahan
Discover (or Rediscover) Planet Ficus
13 Tales of Wonder, Myth and Ecology
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Mike Shanahan
Planet Ficus Monthly Roundup #3
Canopy orangutans. New fig species. Invading wasps. A fig city. Heritage trees. Feeding hornbills. A Syrian memorial. Corrosion-fighting figs. And more!
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Mike Shanahan

July 2025

The Majesty And Mystery Of India’s Sacred Banyan Trees
Some 550 years ago, so a story goes, the poet-sage Kabir was on a silt island in India’s Narmada River, and was brushing his teeth with a twig.
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Mike Shanahan
Stone-making Fig Trees Offer Surprising Climate Solution
New research shows that wild fig species in Kenya turn partially to stone, locking away carbon effectively forever and boosting soil health, making them…
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Mike Shanahan
9
Planet Ficus Monthly Roundup #2
Chinese temples. Bornean binturongs. A living goddess. Medicinal figs. Citizen science. Hiding soldiers.
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Mike Shanahan

June 2025

The Trees Of Life That Became Agents Of Death
When British soldiers hanged Indian rebel Amar Shahid Bandhu Singh from a sacred fig tree in 1857, a legend was born.
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Mike Shanahan
3
The Stranglers That Save Lives When Cyclones Strike
They are demonized as brutal killers but strangler figs can be lifesavers — of both plants and people.
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Mike Shanahan
4
An Ancient Fig Tree Inspired Hundreds of Interconnected Artworks
On a quiet day in June 2020, a stranger on a distant shore contacted me and blew my mind.
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Mike Shanahan
2
Planet Ficus Monthly Roundup #1
Lizards as seed dispersers. An 'assassinated' banyan. Rituals of Kenyan elders. Singaporean stamps. Hindu women's prayers. Award-winning authors. A new…
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Mike Shanahan

May 2025

© 2025 Mike Shanahan
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