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21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest Natural World
Night image of a Dragon Blood Trees

Night image of a Dragon Blood Trees (Dracaena Cinnabari) with its unusual, umbrella-like appearance is endemic to the island of Socotra. They can live a thousand years and are believed to have medicinal properties. In the fall of 2015 two cyclones ravaged over Socotra within a week and destroyed a lot of the trees. Another cyclone hit in 2018 while Socotra was still recovering. And with climate change such weather paterns will become more and more frequent. Socotra is slowly drying out, with once reliable monsoon weather becoming patchy and irregular. So, the future of the species is uncertain.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 02.2023
Date Uploaded: 11.2023
Photo Location: Hadibo, Yemen
Copyright: © Matjaz Krivic