{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":0.3,"endTime":4.26,"body":"Today is"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":0.3,"endTime":4.26,"body":"Saturday, October 1, 2022. Four"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":4.26,"endTime":8.31,"body":"days ago, a category four"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":4.26,"endTime":8.31,"body":"hurricane named Ian made nearly"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":8.31,"endTime":12.63,"body":"direct landfall on Fort Myers,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":8.31,"endTime":12.63,"body":"Florida. It was one of the most"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":12.63,"endTime":15.96,"body":"powerful storms to ever hit the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":12.63,"endTime":15.96,"body":"state, and it caused major"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":15.96,"endTime":20.49,"body":"devastation and some loss of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":15.96,"endTime":20.49,"body":"life. This episode of this old"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":20.49,"endTime":24.48,"body":"tree was scheduled to drop that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":20.49,"endTime":24.48,"body":"same day and our subject, the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":24.48,"endTime":28.92,"body":"Edison Banyan Tree, is in Fort"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":24.48,"endTime":28.92,"body":"Myers. Obviously, I couldn't"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":28.92,"endTime":31.5,"body":"release the episode without"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":28.92,"endTime":31.5,"body":"knowing the fate of the banyan"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":31.8,"endTime":34.56,"body":"or knowing if our friends that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":31.8,"endTime":34.56,"body":"care for it at the Edison \u0026 Ford"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":34.56,"endTime":38.43,"body":"Winter Estates are okay. Well, I"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":34.56,"endTime":38.43,"body":"can report that the famous"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":38.43,"endTime":42.0,"body":"banyan tree did survive with"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":38.43,"endTime":42.0,"body":"only some broken branches, that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":42.0,"endTime":44.4,"body":"the buildings at the museum are"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":42.0,"endTime":44.4,"body":"all intact and in good"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":44.4,"endTime":49.2,"body":"condition, and everyone is fine."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":44.4,"endTime":49.2,"body":"I'm so happy to hear this news,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":49.35,"endTime":52.83,"body":"and I thought you listeners"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":49.35,"endTime":52.83,"body":"would want to know too. To the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":52.83,"endTime":55.86,"body":"people of Fort Myers and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":52.83,"endTime":55.86,"body":"southern Florida in general, we"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":55.86,"endTime":58.95,"body":"wish you a speedy recovery as"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":55.86,"endTime":58.95,"body":"you rebuild. You are in our"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":58.95,"endTime":63.54,"body":"thoughts. So without further"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":58.95,"endTime":63.54,"body":"ado, here's our original episode"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":63.57,"endTime":64.53,"body":"in its entirety."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":68.25,"endTime":71.01,"body":"Was there ever a time in your"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":68.25,"endTime":71.01,"body":"life when others defined you in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":71.01,"endTime":74.7,"body":"a certain way, but deep down you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":71.01,"endTime":74.7,"body":"knew you were something else?"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":74.94,"endTime":78.33,"body":"Something much more? Maybe you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":74.94,"endTime":78.33,"body":"were new, maybe you were"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":78.33,"endTime":82.35,"body":"different. They picked a lane"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":78.33,"endTime":82.35,"body":"for you, and you were passed by."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":83.07,"endTime":86.52,"body":"This could describe the Edison"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":83.07,"endTime":86.52,"body":"Banyan Tree as it began its life"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":86.52,"endTime":90.51,"body":"in Fort Myers, Florida in the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":86.52,"endTime":90.51,"body":"1920s. It was an unassuming"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":90.51,"endTime":93.96,"body":"sapling from India planted by"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":90.51,"endTime":93.96,"body":"Thomas Edison at his winter"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":93.96,"endTime":97.26,"body":"estate, one of thousands of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":93.96,"endTime":97.26,"body":"plants he experimented with"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":97.26,"endTime":101.4,"body":"there. But soon its genetic"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":97.26,"endTime":101.4,"body":"potential busted loose and its"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":101.4,"endTime":105.96,"body":"inner fabulousness could not be"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":101.4,"endTime":105.96,"body":"contained. It is now an enormous"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":105.96,"endTime":109.98,"body":"beloved fig tree. Yep, it's a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":105.96,"endTime":109.98,"body":"type of fig. And this \"not so"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":109.98,"endTime":113.13,"body":"gentle giant\" is the main"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":109.98,"endTime":113.13,"body":"attraction at the Edison \u0026 Ford"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":113.13,"endTime":116.82,"body":"Winter Estates historic site."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":113.13,"endTime":116.82,"body":"Why did Edison plant the banyan"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":116.82,"endTime":120.0,"body":"tree? I'll be speaking to Debbie"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":116.82,"endTime":120.0,"body":"Hughes, the Horticultural"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":120.0,"endTime":123.84,"body":"Director to find out. Looking"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":120.0,"endTime":123.84,"body":"back to India, what are its"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":123.84,"endTime":127.2,"body":"myths and what's its true"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":123.84,"endTime":127.2,"body":"nature? What's its place in the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":127.2,"endTime":132.0,"body":"history of civilization? Guest"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":127.2,"endTime":132.0,"body":"Mike Shanahan will explain. He's"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":132.0,"endTime":136.77,"body":"a rainforest ecologist, blogger"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":132.0,"endTime":136.77,"body":"and author of the wonderful 2016"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":136.8,"endTime":140.88,"body":"book, Gods, Wasps and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":136.8,"endTime":140.88,"body":"Stranglers, The Secret History"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":140.88,"endTime":145.86,"body":"and Redemptive Future of Fig"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":140.88,"endTime":145.86,"body":"Trees. Join me as I discover the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":145.86,"endTime":150.12,"body":"story of the Edison Banyan Tree."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":145.86,"endTime":150.12,"body":"I'm Doug Still, and welcome to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":150.12,"endTime":151.05,"body":"This Old Tree."},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":154.47,"endTime":159.6,"body":"This"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":154.47,"endTime":159.6,"body":"old tree, standing here for more"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":159.6,"endTime":166.95,"body":"than four centuries. Wonder what"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":159.6,"endTime":166.95,"body":"you'd say to me....."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":166.98,"endTime":169.02,"body":"When walking"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":166.98,"endTime":169.02,"body":"between the parking lot and the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":169.02,"endTime":172.86,"body":"outbuildings at the Edison \u0026"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":169.02,"endTime":172.86,"body":"Ford Winter Estates, visitors"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":172.86,"endTime":175.89,"body":"can't help but notice a shady"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":172.86,"endTime":175.89,"body":"stand of trees that seems"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":175.89,"endTime":180.54,"body":"inviting. But it's not a stand"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":175.89,"endTime":180.54,"body":"at all. It's a single tree -"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":180.72,"endTime":184.98,"body":"our Edison Banyan. It covers an"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":180.72,"endTime":184.98,"body":"entire acre, a series of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":184.98,"endTime":188.22,"body":"interconnected branches"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":184.98,"endTime":188.22,"body":"supported by hundreds of aerial"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":188.22,"endTime":191.31,"body":"roots that have formed into"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":188.22,"endTime":191.31,"body":"trunks in their own right after"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":191.31,"endTime":194.67,"body":"reaching the ground long ago."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":191.31,"endTime":194.67,"body":"There are many banyan trees in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":194.67,"endTime":197.97,"body":"southern Florida growing in a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":194.67,"endTime":197.97,"body":"variety of places, but this is"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":197.97,"endTime":201.09,"body":"the biggest, and one of the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":197.97,"endTime":201.09,"body":"first. I had the pleasure of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":201.09,"endTime":204.63,"body":"talking with Debbie Hughes, the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":201.09,"endTime":204.63,"body":"longtime Horticultural Director"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":204.63,"endTime":207.93,"body":"at Edison Ford, about the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":204.63,"endTime":207.93,"body":"history of this tree and what"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":207.93,"endTime":211.95,"body":"people love about it. Debbie,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":207.93,"endTime":211.95,"body":"welcome to the show!"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":212.07,"endTime":215.88,"body":"Well, thank you,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":212.07,"endTime":215.88,"body":"Douglas. I am so excited to talk"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":215.88,"endTime":216.9,"body":"about trees."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":218.58,"endTime":220.92,"body":"I was wondering"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":218.58,"endTime":220.92,"body":"if you could just describe where"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":220.92,"endTime":224.19,"body":"you work and what are the Edison"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":220.92,"endTime":224.19,"body":"\u0026 Ford Winter Estates?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":224.67,"endTime":227.61,"body":"Well, it's in a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":224.67,"endTime":227.61,"body":"historical neighborhood. Of"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":227.61,"endTime":231.48,"body":"course, Fort Myers was a small"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":227.61,"endTime":231.48,"body":"little community about 300"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":231.48,"endTime":236.16,"body":"people when Edison moved here"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":231.48,"endTime":236.16,"body":"for the winter. His doctor told"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":236.16,"endTime":238.92,"body":"him that he needed to get out of"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":236.16,"endTime":238.92,"body":"the cold in New Jersey where his"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":238.92,"endTime":245.64,"body":"lab was, so he ended up coming"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":238.92,"endTime":245.64,"body":"here throughout his older years"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":245.67,"endTime":249.75,"body":"and Mina his wife was 20 years"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":245.67,"endTime":249.75,"body":"younger than him so she lived"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":249.75,"endTime":254.94,"body":"longer and donated the property"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":249.75,"endTime":254.94,"body":"of 20 acres to the at the City"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":254.94,"endTime":259.32,"body":"of Fort Myers. So because of"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":254.94,"endTime":259.32,"body":"that, we have this wonderful"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":259.32,"endTime":263.88,"body":"property, with his old homes and"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":259.32,"endTime":263.88,"body":"gardens that he experimented"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":263.88,"endTime":267.15,"body":"with here, and he had a lab and"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":263.88,"endTime":267.15,"body":"we now have the museum. It's a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":267.15,"endTime":268.47,"body":"wonderful place to visit."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":269.01,"endTime":270.6,"body":"And Henry Ford"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":269.01,"endTime":270.6,"body":"was next door."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":270.93,"endTime":274.11,"body":"Yeah, Henry Ford"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":270.93,"endTime":274.11,"body":"came - he was his friend."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":274.65,"endTime":278.58,"body":"Basically, Henry Ford worked for"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":274.65,"endTime":278.58,"body":"Edison at one of his companies,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":278.82,"endTime":284.52,"body":"and they met at a conference."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":278.82,"endTime":284.52,"body":"And Henry Ford said to Thomas"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":284.91,"endTime":287.88,"body":"that he was developing this new"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":284.91,"endTime":287.88,"body":"car - it was called the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":287.88,"endTime":293.55,"body":"quadricycle. It was basically a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":287.88,"endTime":293.55,"body":"bicycle. So Edison, as always,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":293.55,"endTime":297.27,"body":"would say something to him like,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":293.55,"endTime":297.27,"body":"\"What are you waiting for? Get"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":297.27,"endTime":302.13,"body":"to work,\" because that's the way"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":297.27,"endTime":302.13,"body":"Edison would think. And so, Ford"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":302.13,"endTime":304.26,"body":"became really good friends with"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":302.13,"endTime":304.26,"body":"them. He bought a house next"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":304.26,"endTime":306.87,"body":"door. And when he bought the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":304.26,"endTime":306.87,"body":"house next door, they would"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":306.87,"endTime":312.42,"body":"travel together, going camping,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":306.87,"endTime":312.42,"body":"and they loved to be together. I"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":312.42,"endTime":315.27,"body":"mean, they were basically,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":312.42,"endTime":315.27,"body":"Edison was like a father."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":315.63,"endTime":318.66,"body":"Well, this tree"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":315.63,"endTime":318.66,"body":"was brought to my attention by a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":318.66,"endTime":322.92,"body":"friend whose family is from the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":318.66,"endTime":322.92,"body":"Fort Myers area. Yeah, it was"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":322.92,"endTime":327.06,"body":"like, wow, you've got to see"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":322.92,"endTime":327.06,"body":"this tree. I haven't been there,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":327.06,"endTime":331.02,"body":"but I saw pictures, and it's"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":327.06,"endTime":331.02,"body":"spectacular. I was wondering if"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":331.02,"endTime":334.8,"body":"you could create a picture for"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":331.02,"endTime":334.8,"body":"our listeners, sort of in our"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":334.8,"endTime":339.18,"body":"mind's eye, of what the tree"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":334.8,"endTime":339.18,"body":"looks like, how it fits into the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":339.18,"endTime":342.81,"body":"surroundings, and what it feels"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":339.18,"endTime":342.81,"body":"like to stand next to it, or"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":342.81,"endTime":344.1,"body":"better yet, underneath it."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":345.18,"endTime":349.26,"body":"Yeah, it's why"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":345.18,"endTime":349.26,"body":"people come to visit, honestly."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":349.65,"endTime":352.68,"body":"People will just drive up, you"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":349.65,"endTime":352.68,"body":"don't even have to pay to see"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":352.68,"endTime":357.57,"body":"it, you drive up. It's off this"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":352.68,"endTime":357.57,"body":"historical neighborhood, a very"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":357.6,"endTime":363.3,"body":"amazing street called McGregor"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":357.6,"endTime":363.3,"body":"Boulevard. The Boulevard is"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":363.33,"endTime":367.95,"body":"amazing to begin with. It's all"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":363.33,"endTime":367.95,"body":"palms lining the street, and"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":367.95,"endTime":374.61,"body":"when they turn into the parking"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":367.95,"endTime":374.61,"body":"lot, they literally - their jaw"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":374.61,"endTime":379.95,"body":"drops. Because the tree is -"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":374.61,"endTime":379.95,"body":"it's more than a tree. It's an"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":379.95,"endTime":385.17,"body":"event. I have seen a lot of"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":379.95,"endTime":385.17,"body":"trees in my life. I just came"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":385.17,"endTime":387.78,"body":"back from the Portland and"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":385.17,"endTime":387.78,"body":"Seattle area, and you know how"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":387.78,"endTime":391.47,"body":"their trees are amazing, too."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":387.78,"endTime":391.47,"body":"They have redwoods and cedars"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":391.47,"endTime":394.29,"body":"and pines that are large, I"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":391.47,"endTime":394.29,"body":"mean, we're talking really"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":394.29,"endTime":397.38,"body":"large, to the point where you"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":394.29,"endTime":397.38,"body":"can't really see how far up they"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":397.38,"endTime":401.55,"body":"go. Looks like into the sky,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":397.38,"endTime":401.55,"body":"completely. This tree is totally"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":401.55,"endTime":406.17,"body":"different. This tree - imagine"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":401.55,"endTime":406.17,"body":"one central trunk, and you"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":406.17,"endTime":409.14,"body":"couldn't even wrap your arms"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":406.17,"endTime":409.14,"body":"around the central trunk, you'd"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":409.14,"endTime":411.6,"body":"have to have three or four"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":409.14,"endTime":411.6,"body":"people to wrap your arms around"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":411.6,"endTime":416.1,"body":"the central trunk. But that's"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":411.6,"endTime":416.1,"body":"not all of it. Once you get past"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":416.1,"endTime":422.82,"body":"that - the tree just keeps"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":416.1,"endTime":422.82,"body":"walking. So imagine you have a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":422.82,"endTime":428.16,"body":"central trunk, and then you got"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":422.82,"endTime":428.16,"body":"arms and the arms are so long"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":428.31,"endTime":431.61,"body":"that they've dropped down aerial"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":428.31,"endTime":431.61,"body":"roots. And after they dropped"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":431.61,"endTime":435.12,"body":"down the aerial roots, it takes,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":431.61,"endTime":435.12,"body":"I don't know, five years for"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":435.12,"endTime":439.53,"body":"those aerial - they're like"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":435.12,"endTime":439.53,"body":"strings, they become a trunk"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":439.53,"endTime":443.19,"body":"themselves, where you can barely"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":439.53,"endTime":443.19,"body":"wrap your arms around them. And"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":443.19,"endTime":447.45,"body":"it just keeps doing this all"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":443.19,"endTime":447.45,"body":"around one acre. So it's a big"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":447.45,"endTime":448.65,"body":"circular tree..."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":449.22,"endTime":453.24,"body":"I love that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":449.22,"endTime":453.24,"body":"phrase that the tree's walking."},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":453.81,"endTime":458.28,"body":"It's 393 inches in"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":453.81,"endTime":458.28,"body":"circumference. So if you took a"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":458.28,"endTime":465.21,"body":"measuring tape and surrounded"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":458.28,"endTime":465.21,"body":"the whole, I guess you would say"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":465.21,"endTime":469.05,"body":"all the trunks because there's,"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":465.21,"endTime":469.05,"body":"there's quite a few, I would say"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":469.05,"endTime":475.02,"body":"there's about 50 trunks."},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":469.05,"endTime":475.02,"body":"[Amazing] That's 393 feet. And"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":475.02,"endTime":480.18,"body":"then the tree is 74 feet tall,"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":475.02,"endTime":480.18,"body":"which is not extreme, right? But"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":480.18,"endTime":484.23,"body":"it's a lot wider, it's a lot"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":480.18,"endTime":484.23,"body":"wider than it is tall. So when"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":484.23,"endTime":488.31,"body":"you think about it, it's not"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":484.23,"endTime":488.31,"body":"immense because it's tall, like"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":488.31,"endTime":492.57,"body":"a Sequoia or redwood would be,"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":488.31,"endTime":492.57,"body":"it is immense because it just"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":492.57,"endTime":497.34,"body":"keeps going, and it just keeps"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":492.57,"endTime":497.34,"body":"walking. And to me, that's what"},{"speaker":"Unknown","startTime":497.34,"endTime":498.42,"body":"makes it so much fun."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":499.17,"endTime":502.08,"body":"What's it like to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":499.17,"endTime":502.08,"body":"walk underneath it, or through"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":502.08,"endTime":502.32,"body":"it?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":502.83,"endTime":506.52,"body":"Well, it's it's"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":502.83,"endTime":506.52,"body":"difficult because the trunks are"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":506.52,"endTime":511.29,"body":"like elephant feet. So each each"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":506.52,"endTime":511.29,"body":"trunk that attaches to these"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":511.59,"endTime":515.64,"body":"branches. You kind of get"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":511.59,"endTime":515.64,"body":"wrapped up in them, you could"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":515.64,"endTime":518.79,"body":"trip really easily. So you have"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":515.64,"endTime":518.79,"body":"to be careful where you're"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":518.79,"endTime":524.13,"body":"walking. Of course, it's 10"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":518.79,"endTime":524.13,"body":"degrees cooler. Say, for"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":524.13,"endTime":527.97,"body":"instance it's 95 here today, if"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":524.13,"endTime":527.97,"body":"you're underneath that banyan"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":527.97,"endTime":533.16,"body":"tree, it's a 80's and you feel"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":527.97,"endTime":533.16,"body":"like you're cool compared to the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":533.16,"endTime":538.65,"body":"rest, if you're in the sun. And"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":533.16,"endTime":538.65,"body":"it's so shaded, it's like a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":538.65,"endTime":542.07,"body":"home. You can literally live"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":538.65,"endTime":542.07,"body":"under there. The only the only"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":542.07,"endTime":547.83,"body":"thing that's really hard, Doug,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":542.07,"endTime":547.83,"body":"is the fruit. It's nasty. It's"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":547.83,"endTime":551.97,"body":"not edible to humans. I'm sure"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":547.83,"endTime":551.97,"body":"there are some animals that do"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":551.97,"endTime":557.22,"body":"eat it. It's Ficus benghalensis."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":551.97,"endTime":557.22,"body":"It's from India. We don't have"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":557.22,"endTime":560.4,"body":"probably the animals that would"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":557.22,"endTime":560.4,"body":"eat it, not even I don't even"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":560.4,"endTime":565.38,"body":"notice the birds eating it. But"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":560.4,"endTime":565.38,"body":"I do notice that it stinks and"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":565.38,"endTime":569.25,"body":"it makes a mess. But if that's"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":565.38,"endTime":569.25,"body":"all we have to put up with,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":569.55,"endTime":573.06,"body":"that's not too bad. If you stood"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":569.55,"endTime":573.06,"body":"still long enough, it could grow"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":573.06,"endTime":578.4,"body":"around you and it would pick you"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":573.06,"endTime":578.4,"body":"up. I do notice people have done"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":578.55,"endTime":583.08,"body":"tricks like that in other places"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":578.55,"endTime":583.08,"body":"and the aerial roots will attach"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":583.08,"endTime":587.61,"body":"to bicycles. It will attach to"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":583.08,"endTime":587.61,"body":"furniture, whatever."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":588.09,"endTime":591.9,"body":"So let's get to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":588.09,"endTime":591.9,"body":"that origin story. [Yeah] Why"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":591.93,"endTime":595.41,"body":"was the tree planted and what"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":591.93,"endTime":595.41,"body":"was going on?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":595.68,"endTime":599.19,"body":"The tree was"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":595.68,"endTime":599.19,"body":"planted simply because he was"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":599.19,"endTime":602.91,"body":"doing rubber research. So he"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":599.19,"endTime":602.91,"body":"thought we need to have a rubber"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":602.91,"endTime":607.53,"body":"source - during World War I they"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":602.91,"endTime":607.53,"body":"had a shortage. So he figured,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":607.56,"endTime":611.16,"body":"let's come up with a source that"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":607.56,"endTime":611.16,"body":"we can grow all over the United"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":611.16,"endTime":616.08,"body":"States, and we could make sure"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":611.16,"endTime":616.08,"body":"we don't have that shortage."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":616.38,"endTime":619.05,"body":"And that might"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":616.38,"endTime":619.05,"body":"have also been from the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":619.38,"endTime":620.82,"body":"influence of Henry Ford."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":621.21,"endTime":624.12,"body":"Henry Ford and"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":621.21,"endTime":624.12,"body":"Harvey Firestone, with the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":624.12,"endTime":628.05,"body":"tires. They had an arrangement"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":624.12,"endTime":628.05,"body":"it was called the Edison Botanic"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":628.05,"endTime":633.45,"body":"Research Laboratory. And they"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":628.05,"endTime":633.45,"body":"tested 17,000 plants. Plants"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":633.45,"endTime":637.59,"body":"were sent from all over the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":633.45,"endTime":637.59,"body":"world. And there was like an"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":637.59,"endTime":642.27,"body":"urban legend that Harvey"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":637.59,"endTime":642.27,"body":"Firestone brought a little tree,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":642.3,"endTime":647.01,"body":"a banyan tree from India. It's"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":642.3,"endTime":647.01,"body":"since been proven wrong. So he"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":647.01,"endTime":652.08,"body":"thought this tree has that white"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":647.01,"endTime":652.08,"body":"latex in it, so you could slash"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":652.08,"endTime":656.46,"body":"the tree trunk, and you'd get"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":652.08,"endTime":656.46,"body":"this white latex substance out"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":656.46,"endTime":660.51,"body":"- which it's actually a rubber -"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":656.46,"endTime":660.51,"body":"but Edison, you know, the way he"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":660.51,"endTime":665.28,"body":"was he was an inventor, not just"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":660.51,"endTime":665.28,"body":"in mechanical things. He"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":665.28,"endTime":670.62,"body":"believed in doing inventions"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":665.28,"endTime":670.62,"body":"with practical plant material,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":670.62,"endTime":674.73,"body":"too. So he tested all these"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":670.62,"endTime":674.73,"body":"plants, he came up with"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":674.73,"endTime":679.35,"body":"goldenrod. And you know why he"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":674.73,"endTime":679.35,"body":"came up with goldenrod? When he"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":679.35,"endTime":684.51,"body":"ground the goldenrod plants, 12%"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":679.35,"endTime":684.51,"body":"of it was rubber latex. So any"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":684.51,"endTime":687.3,"body":"part of the world here in United"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":684.51,"endTime":687.3,"body":"States could grow goldenrod,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":687.3,"endTime":690.54,"body":"right? I mean, it's a native"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":687.3,"endTime":690.54,"body":"wildflower or weed, some people"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":690.54,"endTime":694.08,"body":"say. Every part of the country."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":690.54,"endTime":694.08,"body":"And he was basically thinking"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":694.08,"endTime":696.78,"body":"you could grow it just like you"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":694.08,"endTime":696.78,"body":"grow cotton or corn or anything"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":696.78,"endTime":701.43,"body":"else. But the banyon tree was"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":696.78,"endTime":701.43,"body":"his first, second, third choice"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":701.43,"endTime":705.69,"body":"maybe. But then again, he"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":701.43,"endTime":705.69,"body":"realized it couldn't grow in any"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":705.69,"endTime":707.13,"body":"other part except for South"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":705.69,"endTime":707.13,"body":"Florida."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":707.64,"endTime":711.57,"body":"So this was one"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":707.64,"endTime":711.57,"body":"plant among 17,000. Did you say?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":712.08,"endTime":714.18,"body":"Yeah, they"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":712.08,"endTime":714.18,"body":"started from everywhere. And"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":714.18,"endTime":717.36,"body":"they had a research garden here"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":714.18,"endTime":717.36,"body":"in South Florida and a research"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":717.36,"endTime":721.23,"body":"garden up in New York. And then"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":717.36,"endTime":721.23,"body":"New Jersey, both. Yes."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":721.38,"endTime":723.72,"body":"So they were"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":721.38,"endTime":723.72,"body":"hoping that this tree would have"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":723.72,"endTime":727.5,"body":"a utilitarian purpose and become"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":723.72,"endTime":727.5,"body":"a workhorse."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":727.53,"endTime":729.87,"body":"Right, and they"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":727.53,"endTime":729.87,"body":"continue to do this research,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":729.9,"endTime":734.16,"body":"even after he passed away in"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":729.9,"endTime":734.16,"body":"1931. And they closed it down, I"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":734.16,"endTime":738.3,"body":"think around 1938, because they"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":734.16,"endTime":738.3,"body":"came up with the the synthetic"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":738.3,"endTime":738.75,"body":"rubber."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":738.84,"endTime":741.93,"body":"So what was"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":738.84,"endTime":741.93,"body":"planted around it? Was it in a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":741.93,"endTime":744.24,"body":"row of other types of trees?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":744.24,"endTime":747.6,"body":"It was in a row,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":744.24,"endTime":747.6,"body":"like like you had an orchard,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":747.78,"endTime":750.96,"body":"but the banyan was unique. I"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":747.78,"endTime":750.96,"body":"don't know why he put the banyan"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":750.96,"endTime":755.1,"body":"where he put it. He must have"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":750.96,"endTime":755.1,"body":"known. It's almost like he went"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":755.1,"endTime":759.21,"body":"in the future and came back."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":755.1,"endTime":759.21,"body":"[Doug laughs] It's got to go"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":759.21,"endTime":762.51,"body":"here, you know, because where he"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":759.21,"endTime":762.51,"body":"put it is the place where"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":762.51,"endTime":763.71,"body":"everything happens."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":764.19,"endTime":766.11,"body":"Right, it was in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":764.19,"endTime":766.11,"body":"the center of it all, [the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":766.62,"endTime":768.9,"body":"center of it all] and it took"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":766.62,"endTime":768.9,"body":"over."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":769.92,"endTime":772.47,"body":"Yes, we have"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":769.92,"endTime":772.47,"body":"pictures of just this little"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":772.47,"endTime":776.85,"body":"teeny seedling about four feet"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":772.47,"endTime":776.85,"body":"tall. And now when you see it,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":776.85,"endTime":778.74,"body":"you cannot believe it's the same"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":776.85,"endTime":778.74,"body":"tree."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":778.89,"endTime":780.87,"body":"We're going to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":778.89,"endTime":780.87,"body":"come back to Debbie, but all"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":780.87,"endTime":784.08,"body":"this had me thinking I need to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":780.87,"endTime":784.08,"body":"learn more about banyan trees."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":784.17,"endTime":787.89,"body":"As I mentioned before the banyan"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":784.17,"endTime":787.89,"body":"is a type of fig tree, which led"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":787.89,"endTime":791.31,"body":"me to Mike Shanahan's wonderful"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":787.89,"endTime":791.31,"body":"book about the critical role of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":791.31,"endTime":795.21,"body":"fig species in tropical climates"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":791.31,"endTime":795.21,"body":"worldwide. We're very lucky that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":795.21,"endTime":802.5,"body":"he agreed to come on the show."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":795.21,"endTime":802.5,"body":"Mike Shanahan is a freelance"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":802.5,"endTime":806.37,"body":"writer and editor, with a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":802.5,"endTime":806.37,"body":"doctorate in rainforest ecology"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":806.4,"endTime":810.69,"body":"from the University of Leeds. He"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":806.4,"endTime":810.69,"body":"writes a blog called Under the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":810.69,"endTime":814.98,"body":"Banyan, Stories About Us and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":810.69,"endTime":814.98,"body":"Nature, which focuses on climate"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":814.98,"endTime":819.3,"body":"change and biodiversity loss."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":814.98,"endTime":819.3,"body":"But he's most well known for his"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":819.3,"endTime":823.95,"body":"research and writing about fig"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":819.3,"endTime":823.95,"body":"tree species worldwide, and in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":823.98,"endTime":829.53,"body":"2016, he wrote a book called"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":823.98,"endTime":829.53,"body":"Gods Wasps and Stranglers, The"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":829.53,"endTime":833.19,"body":"Secret History and Redemptive"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":829.53,"endTime":833.19,"body":"Future of Fig Trees. This"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":833.58,"endTime":837.78,"body":"focused on the many ways that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":833.58,"endTime":837.78,"body":"fig trees have shaped human"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":837.78,"endTime":841.23,"body":"evolution and civilization, both"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":837.78,"endTime":841.23,"body":"physically and through the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":841.23,"endTime":845.7,"body":"imagination and through myth. So"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":841.23,"endTime":845.7,"body":"Mike, welcome to the show."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":846.0,"endTime":847.77,"body":"Thanks for having"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":846.0,"endTime":847.77,"body":"me, Doug. I'm looking forward to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":847.77,"endTime":848.37,"body":"talking to you."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":849.03,"endTime":852.99,"body":"So, how did you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":849.03,"endTime":852.99,"body":"come to study fig trees and how"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":852.99,"endTime":854.7,"body":"did they capture your"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":852.99,"endTime":854.7,"body":"imagination?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":855.03,"endTime":860.4,"body":"I started on this"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":855.03,"endTime":860.4,"body":"journey in 1996 when I was doing"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":860.43,"endTime":864.3,"body":"a master's project at the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":860.43,"endTime":864.3,"body":"University of Leeds, and I went"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":864.3,"endTime":867.66,"body":"to Borneo for about a month"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":864.3,"endTime":867.66,"body":"where I was working in a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":867.66,"endTime":872.97,"body":"national park there. And the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":867.66,"endTime":872.97,"body":"National Park I was in had about"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":873.0,"endTime":877.89,"body":"80 different species of fig"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":873.0,"endTime":877.89,"body":"trees and huge variety within"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":877.89,"endTime":882.87,"body":"those 80 species. And my project"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":877.89,"endTime":882.87,"body":"was looking at how different fig"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":882.87,"endTime":886.68,"body":"trees use different tactics to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":882.87,"endTime":886.68,"body":"attract their seed dispersing"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":886.68,"endTime":891.39,"body":"animals. So, in terms of how"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":886.68,"endTime":891.39,"body":"they produce their figs, where"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":891.39,"endTime":894.24,"body":"they produce them, what color"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":891.39,"endTime":894.24,"body":"they are, whether they smell or"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":894.24,"endTime":898.05,"body":"they don't smell, and I was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":894.24,"endTime":898.05,"body":"looking at how different types"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":898.05,"endTime":900.36,"body":"of animals eat different types"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":898.05,"endTime":900.36,"body":"of figs."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":900.6,"endTime":903.84,"body":"So I was"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":900.6,"endTime":903.84,"body":"impressed by how many different"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":903.84,"endTime":908.64,"body":"fig species there are. Ficus is"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":903.84,"endTime":908.64,"body":"the genus, what are the types of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":908.64,"endTime":911.07,"body":"fig trees that everyone knows."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":911.1,"endTime":913.5,"body":"So everyone's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":911.1,"endTime":913.5,"body":"probably familiar with Ficus"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":913.5,"endTime":918.66,"body":"carica, which is the so called"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":913.5,"endTime":918.66,"body":"edible fig. This is the one that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":918.69,"endTime":922.95,"body":"originated in the sort of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":918.69,"endTime":922.95,"body":"Mediterranean area and has now"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":922.95,"endTime":927.45,"body":"been planted as a domestic crop"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":922.95,"endTime":927.45,"body":"in about 70 countries. And"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":927.45,"endTime":930.75,"body":"within that species alone, you"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":927.45,"endTime":930.75,"body":"have, you know, many, many"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":930.75,"endTime":934.02,"body":"hundreds of varieties that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":930.75,"endTime":934.02,"body":"farmers have developed over"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":934.02,"endTime":937.47,"body":"thousands of years. So that's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":934.02,"endTime":937.47,"body":"the common one that everyone is"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":937.47,"endTime":941.13,"body":"familiar with. Some of the fig"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":937.47,"endTime":941.13,"body":"trees are like that, they're a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":941.13,"endTime":944.07,"body":"typical tree, you know, a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":941.13,"endTime":944.07,"body":"straight trunk and some branches"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":944.07,"endTime":947.46,"body":"and some leaves. Many others do"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":944.07,"endTime":947.46,"body":"different things. So you have"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":947.46,"endTime":950.52,"body":"some that are just shrubs that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":947.46,"endTime":950.52,"body":"are very low lying, you have"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":950.52,"endTime":953.88,"body":"some that are creepers that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":950.52,"endTime":953.88,"body":"climb up onto other trees to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":953.88,"endTime":957.36,"body":"grow. And then you have the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":953.88,"endTime":957.36,"body":"strangler figs, which are some"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":957.36,"endTime":961.41,"body":"of the most famous ones, which"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":957.36,"endTime":961.41,"body":"often start out in life high up"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":961.41,"endTime":964.68,"body":"on another tree where their seed"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":961.41,"endTime":964.68,"body":"is deposited, and then they send"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":964.68,"endTime":967.83,"body":"their roots downwards to reach"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":964.68,"endTime":967.83,"body":"the earth and create a stable"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":967.83,"endTime":968.61,"body":"scaffold."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":968.67,"endTime":972.36,"body":"What's the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":968.67,"endTime":972.36,"body":"species that's the common house"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":972.36,"endTime":972.87,"body":"plant?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":973.14,"endTime":975.78,"body":"So that's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":973.14,"endTime":975.78,"body":"probably Ficus benjamina. That's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":975.78,"endTime":980.94,"body":"the so called weeping fig, which"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":975.78,"endTime":980.94,"body":"in your house, maybe a couple of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":980.94,"endTime":984.6,"body":"feet tall, but in the rain"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":980.94,"endTime":984.6,"body":"forest, it can be 30 meters,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":985.26,"endTime":989.1,"body":"with a million figs on it and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":985.26,"endTime":989.1,"body":"feeding 30 or more species of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":989.13,"endTime":992.64,"body":"birds and mammals. That is a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":989.13,"endTime":992.64,"body":"kind of strangler fig in the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":992.64,"endTime":996.33,"body":"wild but it can also grow up"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":992.64,"endTime":996.33,"body":"from the ground. And then I"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":996.33,"endTime":1000.14,"body":"think a few more species that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":996.33,"endTime":1000.14,"body":"you find in households these"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1000.14,"endTime":1004.04,"body":"days include Ficus elastica,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1000.14,"endTime":1004.04,"body":"which is the the Indian rubber"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1004.04,"endTime":1008.75,"body":"tree, and Ficus lyrata, the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1004.04,"endTime":1008.75,"body":"fiddleleaf fig, which is a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1008.78,"endTime":1010.58,"body":"increasingly popular houseplant."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1010.94,"endTime":1013.79,"body":"When you were in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1010.94,"endTime":1013.79,"body":"Borneo you studied Ficus"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1013.85,"endTime":1016.46,"body":"aurantiaca. Did I pronounced"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1013.85,"endTime":1016.46,"body":"that correctly?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1016.7,"endTime":1018.23,"body":"Yes, more or"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1016.7,"endTime":1018.23,"body":"less, yeah. [Doug laughs]"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1019.64,"endTime":1023.33,"body":"Could you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1019.64,"endTime":1023.33,"body":"describe it and maybe your first"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1023.36,"endTime":1025.16,"body":"experience when you saw it?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1025.849,"endTime":1029.239,"body":"So this is a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1025.849,"endTime":1029.239,"body":"species that is of a type called"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1029.239,"endTime":1033.529,"body":"root climbers, and they start"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1029.239,"endTime":1033.529,"body":"out in life on the forest floor"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1033.529,"endTime":1037.969,"body":"where a seed germinates, and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1033.529,"endTime":1037.969,"body":"then they grow up a big tree."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1037.969,"endTime":1044.539,"body":"They develop a very stout stem"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1037.969,"endTime":1044.539,"body":"that grows upwards and from that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1044.539,"endTime":1047.449,"body":"grow from some very small"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1044.539,"endTime":1047.449,"body":"leaves, about the size of a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1047.449,"endTime":1053.389,"body":"thumbnail. And as the fig grows"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1047.449,"endTime":1053.389,"body":"upwards, it produces its figs"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1053.389,"endTime":1057.319,"body":"which can be about the size of a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1053.389,"endTime":1057.319,"body":"tennis ball, big red orange"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1057.319,"endTime":1062.179,"body":"figs. And when you have fixed"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1057.319,"endTime":1062.179,"body":"that big, you need a big animal"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1062.179,"endTime":1065.779,"body":"to eat them and they're"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1062.179,"endTime":1065.779,"body":"particularly favored by monkeys."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1066.229,"endTime":1070.849,"body":"This is a species I encountered"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1066.229,"endTime":1070.849,"body":"a few times in the rainforest."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1070.849,"endTime":1075.109,"body":"But one time I was up a tree, I"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1070.849,"endTime":1075.109,"body":"had gone looking for these figs,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1075.109,"endTime":1079.069,"body":"and I saw some from a distance"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1075.109,"endTime":1079.069,"body":"and luckily there was a tree"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1079.069,"endTime":1082.549,"body":"nearby that had a ladder"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1079.069,"endTime":1082.549,"body":"attached all the way up to it up"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1082.549,"endTime":1085.699,"body":"the top because some other"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1082.549,"endTime":1085.699,"body":"researchers have been studying"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1085.699,"endTime":1090.439,"body":"that tree for other reasons. And"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1085.699,"endTime":1090.439,"body":"so I climbed this ladder. When I"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1090.439,"endTime":1092.869,"body":"say a ladder is actually a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1090.439,"endTime":1092.869,"body":"series of ladders one on top of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1092.869,"endTime":1097.549,"body":"the other going up very high."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1092.869,"endTime":1097.549,"body":"Foolishly, I hadn't taken my"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1097.549,"endTime":1100.759,"body":"safety harness and I wasn't"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1097.549,"endTime":1100.759,"body":"clipped in, I didn't follow the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1100.759,"endTime":1104.089,"body":"protocol and I just was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1100.759,"endTime":1104.089,"body":"desperate to get hold of these"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1104.089,"endTime":1108.709,"body":"figs. So I climbed and climbed"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1104.089,"endTime":1108.709,"body":"and climbed. As I went up, I"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1108.709,"endTime":1113.119,"body":"encountered a snake up the tree"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1108.709,"endTime":1113.119,"body":"as well, so I had to reach past"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1113.119,"endTime":1116.689,"body":"the venomous snake to get the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1113.119,"endTime":1116.689,"body":"figs I wanted."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1117.53,"endTime":1119.72,"body":"This very \"Garden"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1117.53,"endTime":1119.72,"body":"of Eden.\""},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1119.72,"endTime":1122.9,"body":"[Laughs] Yeah,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1119.72,"endTime":1122.9,"body":"there was a lot of temptation"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1122.9,"endTime":1128.54,"body":"going on. But the figs"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1122.9,"endTime":1128.54,"body":"themselves, they are quite large"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1128.54,"endTime":1131.0,"body":"and I had to sort of stuffed"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1128.54,"endTime":1131.0,"body":"them inside the the clothes I"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1131.0,"endTime":1133.34,"body":"was wearing so I could get them"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1131.0,"endTime":1133.34,"body":"back down to safety."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1133.52,"endTime":1136.19,"body":"Well, in your"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1133.52,"endTime":1136.19,"body":"book you write so beautifully"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1136.19,"endTime":1141.32,"body":"and bring us there, you know in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1136.19,"endTime":1141.32,"body":"the readers mind, and I just"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1141.32,"endTime":1144.29,"body":"want to read a passage from when"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1141.32,"endTime":1144.29,"body":"you're in the forest, because"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1144.29,"endTime":1147.77,"body":"it's so good. \"Each time I"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1144.29,"endTime":1147.77,"body":"stepped into that forest, I"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1147.77,"endTime":1151.28,"body":"encountered another world. It"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1147.77,"endTime":1151.28,"body":"was hot and humid and full of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1151.28,"endTime":1155.63,"body":"mosquitoes. The forest's palette"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1151.28,"endTime":1155.63,"body":"of greens and browns flooded my"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1155.63,"endTime":1160.49,"body":"vision. Countless trees crowded"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1155.63,"endTime":1160.49,"body":"in on me, vines crept and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1160.49,"endTime":1164.96,"body":"corkscrewed their way skywards"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1160.49,"endTime":1164.96,"body":"at every possible angle. Some"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1164.96,"endTime":1169.46,"body":"were as thick as a thigh."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1164.96,"endTime":1169.46,"body":"Strange sounds tricked my ears,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1169.58,"endTime":1173.51,"body":"strange shapes moved then"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1169.58,"endTime":1173.51,"body":"vanished. There were musty"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1173.51,"endTime":1177.32,"body":"scents whose sources I never"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1173.51,"endTime":1177.32,"body":"found. Most of the trees were"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1177.32,"endTime":1181.07,"body":"just a few centimetres thick,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1177.32,"endTime":1181.07,"body":"but were so numerous I could"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1181.07,"endTime":1184.34,"body":"only take a couple of steps off"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1181.07,"endTime":1184.34,"body":"a trail before hitting one."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1185.06,"endTime":1189.32,"body":"Others were giants as broad as a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1185.06,"endTime":1189.32,"body":"small car and none was as"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1189.32,"endTime":1193.88,"body":"spookily beautiful as the first"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1189.32,"endTime":1193.88,"body":"free standing strangler fig I"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1193.88,"endTime":1198.23,"body":"saw there. Its host tree had"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1193.88,"endTime":1198.23,"body":"long since died and rotted away,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1198.65,"endTime":1201.71,"body":"and the stranglers roots now"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1198.65,"endTime":1201.71,"body":"formed a scaffold with a hollow"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1201.71,"endTime":1206.54,"body":"core. I stepped inside and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1201.71,"endTime":1206.54,"body":"looked up. shafts of light shone"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1206.54,"endTime":1211.94,"body":"down at me from far above. This"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1206.54,"endTime":1211.94,"body":"Ficus kerkhovenii became my"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1211.94,"endTime":1214.07,"body":"favorite landmark in the forest."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1214.82,"endTime":1216.71,"body":"Yeah, because"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1214.82,"endTime":1216.71,"body":"it's just such an amazing thing"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1216.71,"endTime":1219.92,"body":"to come across in the forest"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1216.71,"endTime":1219.92,"body":"when you're wandering around"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1219.92,"endTime":1223.58,"body":"this landscape of trees, trees,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1219.92,"endTime":1223.58,"body":"trees and trees and then"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1223.58,"endTime":1227.57,"body":"suddenly you come across this"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1223.58,"endTime":1227.57,"body":"thing that looks like molten wax"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1227.57,"endTime":1232.4,"body":"that is frozen in shape and is"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1227.57,"endTime":1232.4,"body":"unlike anything else. It being"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1232.4,"endTime":1234.65,"body":"one of the strangler figs, it"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1232.4,"endTime":1234.65,"body":"was one that was particularly"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1234.65,"endTime":1238.01,"body":"attractive to lots of different"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1234.65,"endTime":1238.01,"body":"types of wildlife. So it was a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1238.01,"endTime":1242.24,"body":"great one to go and watch at"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1238.01,"endTime":1242.24,"body":"dawn when the animals come to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1242.24,"endTime":1246.95,"body":"feed. But as I mentioned in that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1242.24,"endTime":1246.95,"body":"extract that you read it it was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1246.95,"endTime":1249.83,"body":"also a landmark and in the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1246.95,"endTime":1249.83,"body":"forest it's great when you're"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1249.83,"endTime":1252.56,"body":"wandering around a forest to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1249.83,"endTime":1252.56,"body":"have these things that you spot"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1252.56,"endTime":1256.4,"body":"every now and again that remind"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1252.56,"endTime":1256.4,"body":"you of where you are and and how"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1256.4,"endTime":1257.24,"body":"to get home again."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1257.66,"endTime":1260.33,"body":"Could you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1257.66,"endTime":1260.33,"body":"describe the strangler fig in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1260.33,"endTime":1263.75,"body":"more detail just...could you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1260.33,"endTime":1263.75,"body":"describe the processes that are"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1263.75,"endTime":1269.21,"body":"happening from germination to it"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1263.75,"endTime":1269.21,"body":"becoming a full grown tree?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1269.69,"endTime":1271.76,"body":"Okay, so most of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1269.69,"endTime":1271.76,"body":"these strangler figs are"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1271.76,"endTime":1277.37,"body":"dispersed either by fruit bats"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1271.76,"endTime":1277.37,"body":"or by birds or monkeys, or"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1277.37,"endTime":1280.85,"body":"various other animals that are"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1277.37,"endTime":1280.85,"body":"in the forest and they live in"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1280.85,"endTime":1285.32,"body":"the canopy. So when they poop,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1280.85,"endTime":1285.32,"body":"they poop out their seeds quite"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1285.32,"endTime":1288.5,"body":"high up. And if one of these"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1285.32,"endTime":1288.5,"body":"seeds happens to fall in the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1288.5,"endTime":1292.64,"body":"right place, which is the crotch"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1288.5,"endTime":1292.64,"body":"of a tree where the branch joins"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1292.64,"endTime":1297.47,"body":"the trunk, it will germinate"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1292.64,"endTime":1297.47,"body":"there and start to send down"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1297.47,"endTime":1303.5,"body":"some roots. These are called"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1297.47,"endTime":1303.5,"body":"aerial roots. So the tiny fig"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1303.53,"endTime":1306.47,"body":"seedling is way up in the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1303.53,"endTime":1306.47,"body":"canopy, it's got a couple of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1306.47,"endTime":1310.1,"body":"leaves to start with, and these"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1306.47,"endTime":1310.1,"body":"roots start descending downwards"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1310.1,"endTime":1313.97,"body":"and they hug the host tree and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1310.1,"endTime":1313.97,"body":"head on downwards towards the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1313.97,"endTime":1318.23,"body":"ground. Once they tap into the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1313.97,"endTime":1318.23,"body":"soil down below, then the tree"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1318.23,"endTime":1321.47,"body":"can start to do two things. It"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1318.23,"endTime":1321.47,"body":"starts to expand above where it"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1321.47,"endTime":1325.31,"body":"can produce many more leaves to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1321.47,"endTime":1325.31,"body":"capture the sunlight. But it"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1325.31,"endTime":1329.51,"body":"also starts to produce many more"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1325.31,"endTime":1329.51,"body":"of these aerial roots which can"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1329.54,"endTime":1333.2,"body":"fuse with each other, they can"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1329.54,"endTime":1333.2,"body":"split they can form a basket"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1333.2,"endTime":1337.34,"body":"work. So they form a structure"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1333.2,"endTime":1337.34,"body":"that's very stable so that even"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1337.34,"endTime":1340.85,"body":"if the host tree does die, the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1337.34,"endTime":1340.85,"body":"strangler fig can then become"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1340.85,"endTime":1342.62,"body":"freestanding in many cases."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1343.19,"endTime":1346.76,"body":"So it doesn't"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1343.19,"endTime":1346.76,"body":"necessarily, in a tropical"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1346.76,"endTime":1351.38,"body":"forest situation, it can't"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1346.76,"endTime":1351.38,"body":"really survive by germinate - or"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1351.38,"endTime":1355.19,"body":"most can't survive - by"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1351.38,"endTime":1355.19,"body":"germinating in the soil because"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1355.19,"endTime":1361.22,"body":"there's a closed canopy. So it"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1355.19,"endTime":1361.22,"body":"has evolved to germinate up in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1361.22,"endTime":1361.82,"body":"the canopy"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1361.88,"endTime":1364.16,"body":"Yes, beating the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1361.88,"endTime":1364.16,"body":"system really.  Many of the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1364.16,"endTime":1367.91,"body":"strangler fix can, in fact,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1364.16,"endTime":1367.91,"body":"germinate on on the ground, they"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1367.91,"endTime":1372.86,"body":"don't have to be on a on a host"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1367.91,"endTime":1372.86,"body":"tree but in a rain forest on the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1372.86,"endTime":1375.2,"body":"ground is not a great place to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1372.86,"endTime":1375.2,"body":"be because there's so much"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1375.2,"endTime":1378.62,"body":"competition and there's so"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1375.2,"endTime":1378.62,"body":"little light. So the strangler"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1378.62,"endTime":1383.63,"body":"figs really have reached this"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1378.62,"endTime":1383.63,"body":"deal with the seed disbursing"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1383.63,"endTime":1387.02,"body":"animals and they pay them with"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1383.63,"endTime":1387.02,"body":"thick flesh and then return they"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1387.02,"endTime":1391.31,"body":"get the seed dispersal service."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1387.02,"endTime":1391.31,"body":"So they can very quickly get the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1391.31,"endTime":1394.46,"body":"benefits of the light from the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1391.31,"endTime":1394.46,"body":"canopy. And because of their"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1394.46,"endTime":1398.75,"body":"rapid growing roots, they then"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1394.46,"endTime":1398.75,"body":"get the benefits of the soil as"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1398.75,"endTime":1401.51,"body":"well, so they they get the best"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1398.75,"endTime":1401.51,"body":"of both worlds."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1401.78,"endTime":1404.45,"body":"We're gonna come"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1401.78,"endTime":1404.45,"body":"back to the banyan, but is the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1404.45,"endTime":1406.4,"body":"banyan a strangler fig?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1406.79,"endTime":1409.91,"body":"Yes, it is, it's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1406.79,"endTime":1409.91,"body":"one of the strangler figs and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1409.94,"endTime":1411.14,"body":"perhaps the most impressive."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1411.29,"endTime":1415.16,"body":"I was fascinated"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1411.29,"endTime":1415.16,"body":"by the relationship between the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1415.16,"endTime":1421.67,"body":"fig wasp and fig trees in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1415.16,"endTime":1421.67,"body":"general. And that there's one?"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1421.7,"endTime":1426.14,"body":"There are many different types"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1421.7,"endTime":1426.14,"body":"of fig wasps, maybe as many as"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1426.14,"endTime":1430.16,"body":"there are fig tree species."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1426.14,"endTime":1430.16,"body":"Could you describe the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1430.16,"endTime":1431.03,"body":"relationship? Y"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1431.18,"endTime":1434.09,"body":"Yeah, so it all"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1431.18,"endTime":1434.09,"body":"hinges on the fig really. People"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1434.09,"endTime":1437.36,"body":"think a fig as a fruit, but it's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1434.09,"endTime":1437.36,"body":"not really. It's like a hollow"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1437.36,"endTime":1442.16,"body":"ball lined with flowers. And"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1437.36,"endTime":1442.16,"body":"those flowers don't really see"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1442.16,"endTime":1446.39,"body":"the light of day. They're"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1442.16,"endTime":1446.39,"body":"pollinated only by fig wasps,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1446.39,"endTime":1451.91,"body":"which are tiny little insects a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1446.39,"endTime":1451.91,"body":"couple of millimeters long. The"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1451.91,"endTime":1456.38,"body":"figs can only breed inside"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1451.91,"endTime":1456.38,"body":"those. So the fig wasps can only"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1456.38,"endTime":1460.22,"body":"breed inside the figs of their"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1456.38,"endTime":1460.22,"body":"partner species. And in most"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1460.22,"endTime":1465.32,"body":"cases, each fig species has one"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1460.22,"endTime":1465.32,"body":"or maybe two fig wasp species"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1465.32,"endTime":1470.18,"body":"that do this service of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1465.32,"endTime":1470.18,"body":"pollination for it. The female"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1470.18,"endTime":1474.38,"body":"fig wasp will be flying around"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1470.18,"endTime":1474.38,"body":"and she's carrying eggs inside"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1474.38,"endTime":1476.99,"body":"her and she's got pollen on her"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1474.38,"endTime":1476.99,"body":"from the fig in which she was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1476.99,"endTime":1481.1,"body":"born. She has to find the right"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1476.99,"endTime":1481.1,"body":"kind of fig of the right species"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1481.1,"endTime":1483.41,"body":"at the right stage of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1481.1,"endTime":1483.41,"body":"development. And when she does"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1483.41,"endTime":1488.18,"body":"so, she forces her way into that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1483.41,"endTime":1488.18,"body":"fig through a tiny little hole"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1488.18,"endTime":1492.08,"body":"at the end of the fig. As she"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1488.18,"endTime":1492.08,"body":"does her wings will be torn from"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1492.08,"endTime":1495.35,"body":"her body, her antennae will be"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1492.08,"endTime":1495.35,"body":"ripped off, and then she'll make"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1495.35,"endTime":1498.8,"body":"her way into the hollow part of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1495.35,"endTime":1498.8,"body":"the fig which will be completely"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1498.8,"endTime":1503.63,"body":"in darkness. And in there, she"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1498.8,"endTime":1503.63,"body":"will wander around on top of the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1503.69,"endTime":1506.3,"body":"on the surface of the flowers"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1503.69,"endTime":1506.3,"body":"that are in there. She'll be"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1506.3,"endTime":1509.72,"body":"pollinating those flowers and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1506.3,"endTime":1509.72,"body":"laying her eggs in some of them."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1510.32,"endTime":1513.77,"body":"I'd like to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1510.32,"endTime":1513.77,"body":"switch to India now because our"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1513.77,"endTime":1517.67,"body":"banyan is from India. And first"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1513.77,"endTime":1517.67,"body":"I'd like to talk about Ficus"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1517.67,"endTime":1523.76,"body":"religiosa, and the mythology"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1517.67,"endTime":1523.76,"body":"behind that tree, the origins of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1523.79,"endTime":1529.34,"body":"Indian culture and early people"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1523.79,"endTime":1529.34,"body":"in India, specifically, I guess,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1529.34,"endTime":1533.66,"body":"in the Indus Valley. Why was the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1529.34,"endTime":1533.66,"body":"tree important, and why did it"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1533.69,"endTime":1536.09,"body":"become such an important part of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1533.69,"endTime":1536.09,"body":"a culture?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1536.51,"endTime":1538.88,"body":"Well, Ficus"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1536.51,"endTime":1538.88,"body":"religiosa is another one of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1538.88,"endTime":1542.87,"body":"these strangler figs. And"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1538.88,"endTime":1542.87,"body":"generally these stranglers tend"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1542.87,"endTime":1547.49,"body":"to be very large trees, they"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1542.87,"endTime":1547.49,"body":"tend to be very impressive to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1547.49,"endTime":1552.8,"body":"look at because of their, the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1547.49,"endTime":1552.8,"body":"way they form and their aerial"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1552.8,"endTime":1557.78,"body":"roots that just look so eerie"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1552.8,"endTime":1557.78,"body":"and strange. But also, they're"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1557.78,"endTime":1562.25,"body":"very important for the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1557.78,"endTime":1562.25,"body":"ecosystems in which you find"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1562.25,"endTime":1565.4,"body":"them because they feed so many"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1562.25,"endTime":1565.4,"body":"animals and those animals"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1565.67,"endTime":1569.03,"body":"disperse the seeds of many other"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1565.67,"endTime":1569.03,"body":"plant species. So they're"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1569.03,"endTime":1573.23,"body":"ecologically important and early"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1569.03,"endTime":1573.23,"body":"humans wherever they have"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1573.23,"endTime":1576.47,"body":"encountered strangler figs have"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1573.23,"endTime":1576.47,"body":"put them into their mythologies"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1576.47,"endTime":1581.48,"body":"and stories and have created"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1576.47,"endTime":1581.48,"body":"taboos against cutting down fig"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1581.48,"endTime":1586.22,"body":"trees, which you find in in"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1581.48,"endTime":1586.22,"body":"Africa and Asia and the Pacific"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1586.22,"endTime":1591.83,"body":"and many other places. So Ficus"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1586.22,"endTime":1591.83,"body":"religiosa, in particular, has a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1591.83,"endTime":1595.55,"body":"bit of this documented in the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1591.83,"endTime":1595.55,"body":"way that others others don't. So"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1595.7,"endTime":1600.29,"body":"the tree appears in ceramic"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1595.7,"endTime":1600.29,"body":"seals that were made by the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1600.29,"endTime":1603.17,"body":"people in the Indus Valley about"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1600.29,"endTime":1603.17,"body":"three and a half thousand years"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1603.17,"endTime":1608.57,"body":"ago. They depict what looks like"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1603.17,"endTime":1608.57,"body":"a god or goddess figure within a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1608.57,"endTime":1612.17,"body":"tree and somebody appearing to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1608.57,"endTime":1612.17,"body":"make some sort of offerings for"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1612.17,"endTime":1617.27,"body":"it, suggesting that this tree"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1612.17,"endTime":1617.27,"body":"had religious value all the way"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1617.27,"endTime":1622.94,"body":"back then. And since then, Ficus"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1617.27,"endTime":1622.94,"body":"religiosa, you know, has had"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1622.97,"endTime":1627.35,"body":"many important roles in other"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1622.97,"endTime":1627.35,"body":"cultures that have come after"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1627.38,"endTime":1631.85,"body":"the Indus Valley people lived,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1627.38,"endTime":1631.85,"body":"including in Hinduism and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1631.85,"endTime":1635.24,"body":"Buddhism. The tree that the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1631.85,"endTime":1635.24,"body":"Buddha sat beneath, as he"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1635.24,"endTime":1638.45,"body":"attained enlightenment was a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1635.24,"endTime":1638.45,"body":"strangler fig of the species"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1638.45,"endTime":1645.17,"body":"Ficus religiosa. It is important"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1638.45,"endTime":1645.17,"body":"for many, many less well known"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1645.5,"endTime":1651.86,"body":"religions and local ethnic"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1645.5,"endTime":1651.86,"body":"groups across India. And in many"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1651.86,"endTime":1658.1,"body":"cases, people will use this tree"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1651.86,"endTime":1658.1,"body":"as a place of prayer, a place to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1659.0,"endTime":1663.38,"body":"particularly pray for things"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1659.0,"endTime":1663.38,"body":"related to fertility and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1663.38,"endTime":1667.58,"body":"longevity and a peaceful long"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1663.38,"endTime":1667.58,"body":"life."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1667.79,"endTime":1670.49,"body":"And even just a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1667.79,"endTime":1670.49,"body":"meeting place. I mean, under the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1670.49,"endTime":1674.87,"body":"shade of these this enormous"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1670.49,"endTime":1674.87,"body":"tree, it's, you know, of value."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1675.5,"endTime":1679.61,"body":"Exactly. These"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1675.5,"endTime":1679.61,"body":"trees, the banyan in particular"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1679.64,"endTime":1684.35,"body":"has been used as a shade tree"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1679.64,"endTime":1684.35,"body":"for thousands of years. It was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1684.35,"endTime":1687.92,"body":"planted along roads to give"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1684.35,"endTime":1687.92,"body":"shelter to people traveling"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1687.95,"endTime":1693.71,"body":"between towns thousands of years"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1687.95,"endTime":1693.71,"body":"ago. It is a tree around which"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1693.74,"endTime":1696.71,"body":"settlements have sprung up. Many"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1693.74,"endTime":1696.71,"body":"villages have got a banyan at"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1696.71,"endTime":1700.76,"body":"their center where the local"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1696.71,"endTime":1700.76,"body":"governance takes place, local"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1700.76,"endTime":1704.66,"body":"village council takes place"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1700.76,"endTime":1704.66,"body":"under the banyan tree, and the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1704.66,"endTime":1707.99,"body":"Bombay Stock Exchange was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1704.66,"endTime":1707.99,"body":"founded underneath a banyan tree"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1707.99,"endTime":1713.63,"body":"in the city now called Mumbai."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1707.99,"endTime":1713.63,"body":"So across India and other parts"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1713.63,"endTime":1716.54,"body":"of South Asia, banyan trees and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1713.63,"endTime":1716.54,"body":"other kinds of strangler figs"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1716.54,"endTime":1720.65,"body":"have often been center points of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1716.54,"endTime":1720.65,"body":"culture, of commerce, of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1720.95,"endTime":1724.49,"body":"conversation. You know, these"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1720.95,"endTime":1724.49,"body":"things are part of the structure"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1724.49,"endTime":1725.03,"body":"of life."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1725.33,"endTime":1728.84,"body":"And as you state"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1725.33,"endTime":1728.84,"body":"the fig tree around the world is"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1728.84,"endTime":1734.21,"body":"part of the creation myth of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1728.84,"endTime":1734.21,"body":"almost every major religion and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1734.24,"endTime":1737.54,"body":"other religions. I'd like to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1734.24,"endTime":1737.54,"body":"read this one passage that you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1737.54,"endTime":1742.55,"body":"wrote about, having to do with"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1737.54,"endTime":1742.55,"body":"Buddha, and setting the scene,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1742.85,"endTime":1747.98,"body":"the young Prince Siddhartha"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1742.85,"endTime":1747.98,"body":"Gautama was on a six year"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1748.01,"endTime":1752.6,"body":"journey to find enlightenment,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1748.01,"endTime":1752.6,"body":"and he ended up under a Ficus"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1752.6,"endTime":1755.99,"body":"religiosa. And you write, \"The"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1752.6,"endTime":1755.99,"body":"tree belonged to a species"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1755.99,"endTime":1760.61,"body":"scientists today called Ficus"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1755.99,"endTime":1760.61,"body":"religiosa, the sacred fig. The"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1760.61,"endTime":1764.42,"body":"species grows up to 30 meters"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1760.61,"endTime":1764.42,"body":"tall and has smooth gray bark"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1764.42,"endTime":1768.74,"body":"and small red figs. Its"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1764.42,"endTime":1768.74,"body":"hand-sized, heart-shaped leaves"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1768.74,"endTime":1773.51,"body":"are shiny and stiff, with long"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1768.74,"endTime":1773.51,"body":"pointed tips and long, slender"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1773.51,"endTime":1778.01,"body":"stalks. When the wind blows, the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1773.51,"endTime":1778.01,"body":"leaves tap against each other"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1778.01,"endTime":1781.58,"body":"and create a sound like the wing"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1778.01,"endTime":1781.58,"body":"beats of thousands of tiny"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1781.58,"endTime":1785.9,"body":"birds. This fluttering filled"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1781.58,"endTime":1785.9,"body":"Gautama's ears as he tried to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1785.9,"endTime":1790.01,"body":"fathom the meaning of the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1785.9,"endTime":1790.01,"body":"universe.\" I just thought that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1790.01,"endTime":1794.36,"body":"was so descriptive, and I love"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1790.01,"endTime":1794.36,"body":"how you brought that sound in,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1794.75,"endTime":1797.63,"body":"of that scene and that myth."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1797.69,"endTime":1799.91,"body":"Thanks, I'm glad"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1797.69,"endTime":1799.91,"body":"you like that. I find it fun"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1799.91,"endTime":1802.73,"body":"fascinating the idea of someone"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1799.91,"endTime":1802.73,"body":"sitting for a long time under a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1802.73,"endTime":1806.15,"body":"tree to meditate. But closing"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1802.73,"endTime":1806.15,"body":"your eyes and sitting under a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1806.15,"endTime":1810.44,"body":"tree and just absorbing the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1806.15,"endTime":1810.44,"body":"soundscape is a fun thing to do."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1810.56,"endTime":1813.17,"body":"And I love the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1810.56,"endTime":1813.17,"body":"thought of those heavy, sort of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1813.2,"endTime":1819.29,"body":"waxy leaves. I could hear that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1813.2,"endTime":1819.29,"body":"and picture that. What are the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1819.29,"endTime":1822.17,"body":"Hindu myths surrounding the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1819.29,"endTime":1822.17,"body":"banyan tree?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1822.2,"endTime":1824.78,"body":"The Banyan"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1822.2,"endTime":1824.78,"body":"features in a great many myths."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1824.81,"endTime":1832.49,"body":"And there are so many invites."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1824.81,"endTime":1832.49,"body":"One of the famous ones is that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1832.52,"endTime":1837.65,"body":"the there's the idea of a cosmic"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1832.52,"endTime":1837.65,"body":"world tree which is a banyan"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1837.65,"endTime":1842.33,"body":"that is sort of upside down with"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1837.65,"endTime":1842.33,"body":"its roots in the heavens and the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1842.39,"endTime":1847.25,"body":"branches descending down to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1842.39,"endTime":1847.25,"body":"earth and bringing gifts to"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1847.34,"endTime":1852.92,"body":"humanity from the celestial"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1847.34,"endTime":1852.92,"body":"realm. And that's a story that's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1852.92,"endTime":1858.26,"body":"been around for about two and a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1852.92,"endTime":1858.26,"body":"half thousand years. It puts the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1858.26,"endTime":1863.24,"body":"Banyan right into the center of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1858.26,"endTime":1863.24,"body":"Hinduism alongside other fif"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1863.24,"endTime":1869.84,"body":"trees. Another one is about the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1863.24,"endTime":1869.84,"body":"idea that the the universe"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1869.96,"endTime":1875.27,"body":"totally dissolves itself every,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1869.96,"endTime":1875.27,"body":"you know, periodically and then"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1875.3,"endTime":1880.31,"body":"is reborn. So just in the idea"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1875.3,"endTime":1880.31,"body":"that you have reincarnation in"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1880.31,"endTime":1884.12,"body":"Hinduism, the idea also applies"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1880.31,"endTime":1884.12,"body":"to the universe as a whole that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1884.12,"endTime":1887.36,"body":"it's it's periodically, a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1884.12,"endTime":1887.36,"body":"dissolution happens and then"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1887.36,"endTime":1892.55,"body":"it's reborn. And one of the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1887.36,"endTime":1892.55,"body":"stories says that the God Vishnu"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1894.2,"endTime":1899.54,"body":"is there in this time floating"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1894.2,"endTime":1899.54,"body":"through the cosmos in the form"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1899.54,"endTime":1904.73,"body":"of a baby resting on a banyan"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1899.54,"endTime":1904.73,"body":"leaf. And it's Vishnu who sort"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1904.73,"endTime":1907.34,"body":"of inhales the whole of the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1904.73,"endTime":1907.34,"body":"universe and then breathes it"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1907.34,"endTime":1911.63,"body":"out again for its rebirth. There"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1907.34,"endTime":1911.63,"body":"are many stories about other"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1911.63,"endTime":1916.22,"body":"banyan trees, there are some"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1911.63,"endTime":1916.22,"body":"that have grown up to be very,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1916.22,"endTime":1919.88,"body":"very large, these things are"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1916.22,"endTime":1919.88,"body":"truly huge. So..."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1920.06,"endTime":1922.52,"body":"This one's the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":1920.06,"endTime":1922.52,"body":"largest of them all, right?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1922.91,"endTime":1926.39,"body":"Yeah. So one of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1922.91,"endTime":1926.39,"body":"them there's a story about a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1926.39,"endTime":1930.62,"body":"saint called Kabir who was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1926.39,"endTime":1930.62,"body":"apparently brushing his teeth"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1931.07,"endTime":1937.46,"body":"with a bit of twig 550 years ago"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1931.07,"endTime":1937.46,"body":"or so and he threw the twig away"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1937.46,"endTime":1941.84,"body":"after he'd finished and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1937.46,"endTime":1941.84,"body":"immediately up sprang a huge"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1942.11,"endTime":1945.53,"body":"banyan tree as big as a forest"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1942.11,"endTime":1945.53,"body":"covering about a hectare of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1945.53,"endTime":1949.97,"body":"land. And this tree, you can go"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1945.53,"endTime":1949.97,"body":"to it now you can go to it"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1949.97,"endTime":1955.55,"body":"today. It's in Gujarat. It's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1949.97,"endTime":1955.55,"body":"called Kabirvad, and it's it was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1955.58,"endTime":1961.4,"body":"on a silty island in the Narmada"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1955.58,"endTime":1961.4,"body":"River. Now, when a British"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1961.43,"endTime":1966.86,"body":"writer was there in the year"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1961.43,"endTime":1966.86,"body":"1794, he describes this thing as"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1966.86,"endTime":1972.89,"body":"having about 350 trunks the size"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1966.86,"endTime":1972.89,"body":"of an English oak tree and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1972.89,"endTime":1977.87,"body":"another 3000 smaller trunks. And"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1972.89,"endTime":1977.87,"body":"the idea that a tree can have"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1977.87,"endTime":1980.81,"body":"more than one trunk is alien, of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1977.87,"endTime":1980.81,"body":"course to many people. But what"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1980.81,"endTime":1986.66,"body":"the banyan does as it grows, its"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1980.81,"endTime":1986.66,"body":"branches grow out from the main"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1986.69,"endTime":1989.48,"body":"trunk of the tree. And as they"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1986.69,"endTime":1989.48,"body":"grow, they send down more of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1989.48,"endTime":1993.53,"body":"these aerial roots that are the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1989.48,"endTime":1993.53,"body":"strangler fig specialities. And"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1993.53,"endTime":1997.04,"body":"as these roots which are like"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1993.53,"endTime":1997.04,"body":"hair, they're kind of like brown"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1997.04,"endTime":2000.94,"body":"matted hair, as they reach down"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":1997.04,"endTime":2000.94,"body":"to the ground, they thicken and"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2000.94,"endTime":2004.45,"body":"they become pillars that hold up"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2000.94,"endTime":2004.45,"body":"those big branches, allowing"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2004.45,"endTime":2008.02,"body":"them to grow even further out,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2004.45,"endTime":2008.02,"body":"and send yet more of these"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2008.35,"endTime":2012.31,"body":"pillar roots down. So from a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2008.35,"endTime":2012.31,"body":"distance, you can see what looks"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2012.31,"endTime":2014.77,"body":"like a small forest but it's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2012.31,"endTime":2014.77,"body":"actually just a single tree"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2014.77,"endTime":2019.87,"body":"One tree [Yeah],"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2014.77,"endTime":2019.87,"body":"and entire towns, or villages"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2019.99,"endTime":2023.47,"body":"sort of sprung up beneath a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2019.99,"endTime":2023.47,"body":"banyan tree."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2024.46,"endTime":2028.06,"body":"Exactly. Yes,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2024.46,"endTime":2028.06,"body":"there's there's a city in India"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2028.06,"endTime":2031.87,"body":"called Vadodara, which means in"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2028.06,"endTime":2031.87,"body":"the heart of the banyan tree."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2032.32,"endTime":2035.86,"body":"And that's how it grew up around"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2032.32,"endTime":2035.86,"body":"one of these huge trees or"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2035.86,"endTime":2038.2,"body":"several of them. And if you go"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2035.86,"endTime":2038.2,"body":"there today, you'll find there"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2038.2,"endTime":2043.72,"body":"are many banyan trees there. But"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2038.2,"endTime":2043.72,"body":"this Kabirvad, which is in"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2043.72,"endTime":2048.37,"body":"Gujarat, some people think it"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2043.72,"endTime":2048.37,"body":"may be the same tree that was"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2048.37,"endTime":2053.02,"body":"described by some of Alexander"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2048.37,"endTime":2053.02,"body":"the Great's companions when he"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2053.02,"endTime":2058.99,"body":"reached India in the year 326"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2053.02,"endTime":2058.99,"body":"BCE. So, you know, a couple of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2058.99,"endTime":2059.92,"body":"thousand years ago,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2060.31,"endTime":2065.98,"body":"They knew the fig"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2060.31,"endTime":2065.98,"body":"that they had been eating back"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2065.98,"endTime":2069.88,"body":"in Greece and Macedonia. But"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2065.98,"endTime":2069.88,"body":"then they discovered this banyan"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2069.88,"endTime":2070.3,"body":"tree."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2070.6,"endTime":2072.94,"body":"Yes, and they"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2070.6,"endTime":2072.94,"body":"even described it as being like"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2072.94,"endTime":2075.46,"body":"a fig even though the tree"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2072.94,"endTime":2075.46,"body":"itself looks completely"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2075.46,"endTime":2079.75,"body":"different. They had looked"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2075.46,"endTime":2079.75,"body":"inside the figs and they had"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2079.75,"endTime":2083.11,"body":"made that connection thousands"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2079.75,"endTime":2083.11,"body":"of years ago, they sent these"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2083.11,"endTime":2088.9,"body":"descriptions back to, you know,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2083.11,"endTime":2088.9,"body":"back to Europe, and the Greek"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2088.93,"endTime":2091.6,"body":"philosopher Theophrastus, who's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2088.93,"endTime":2091.6,"body":"considered to be the sort of"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2091.6,"endTime":2096.79,"body":"father of botany, he wrote up"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2091.6,"endTime":2096.79,"body":"his descriptions of the, you"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2096.79,"endTime":2098.8,"body":"know, the very first"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2096.79,"endTime":2098.8,"body":"descriptions of Ficus in a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2098.8,"endTime":2102.91,"body":"scientific sense. He named three"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2098.8,"endTime":2102.91,"body":"species. It was the Ficus"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2102.91,"endTime":2107.02,"body":"carica, the edible one, this"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2102.91,"endTime":2107.02,"body":"banyan from India which looks"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2107.02,"endTime":2111.58,"body":"totally different, and a third"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2107.02,"endTime":2111.58,"body":"species, Ficus sycomorus, which"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2111.58,"endTime":2117.61,"body":"you find in in Egypt and other"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2111.58,"endTime":2117.61,"body":"parts of Africa as well. So he"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2117.67,"endTime":2121.33,"body":"joined the dots and named three"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2117.67,"endTime":2121.33,"body":"species. But today, we know that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2121.36,"endTime":2123.73,"body":"there are more than 800 of the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2121.36,"endTime":2123.73,"body":"Ficus species."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2124.3,"endTime":2126.94,"body":"They were just"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2124.3,"endTime":2126.94,"body":"stunned when they saw this tree"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2126.94,"endTime":2127.87,"body":"for the first time."},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2128.65,"endTime":2130.54,"body":"They must have"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2128.65,"endTime":2130.54,"body":"been one of the people in"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2130.54,"endTime":2134.2,"body":"Alexander's party said that 7000"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2130.54,"endTime":2134.2,"body":"men could stand beneath this one"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2134.2,"endTime":2139.36,"body":"tree. [Incredible] for for a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2134.2,"endTime":2139.36,"body":"long time, this was treated as"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2139.57,"endTime":2144.25,"body":"you know, hyperbole. And it's,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2139.57,"endTime":2144.25,"body":"you know, travelers tales from"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2144.25,"endTime":2147.97,"body":"an exotic land clearly they've"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2144.25,"endTime":2147.97,"body":"been exaggerated. But it's true,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2148.0,"endTime":2150.58,"body":"you can get many more than that,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2148.0,"endTime":2150.58,"body":"actually. There's a there's"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2150.58,"endTime":2154.39,"body":"another tree and other banyan in"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2150.58,"endTime":2154.39,"body":"Southern India that 20,000"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2154.39,"endTime":2158.8,"body":"people can stand beneath. So,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2154.39,"endTime":2158.8,"body":"that was maybe a small one."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2159.67,"endTime":2162.73,"body":"That's"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2159.67,"endTime":2162.73,"body":"incredible. You've suggested"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2162.73,"endTime":2168.13,"body":"that awe is something that"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2162.73,"endTime":2168.13,"body":"humans have evolved to feel, and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2168.13,"endTime":2173.44,"body":"that it's an evolutionary"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2168.13,"endTime":2173.44,"body":"advantage. And fig trees are"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2173.44,"endTime":2175.81,"body":"intricately tied to the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2173.44,"endTime":2175.81,"body":"development of culture"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2175.81,"endTime":2180.61,"body":"worldwide, and then you sort of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2175.81,"endTime":2180.61,"body":"tie these together. Could you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2180.67,"endTime":2182.23,"body":"talk about that a little bit"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2180.67,"endTime":2182.23,"body":"more?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2182.59,"endTime":2185.59,"body":"Yes, I mean, awe"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2182.59,"endTime":2185.59,"body":"is something that I've"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2185.59,"endTime":2190.42,"body":"experienced in rain forests a"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2185.59,"endTime":2190.42,"body":"couple of times, and when you"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2190.42,"endTime":2193.87,"body":"experience something like that,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2190.42,"endTime":2193.87,"body":"it really does take your breath"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2193.87,"endTime":2198.46,"body":"away. And it changes it changes"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2193.87,"endTime":2198.46,"body":"you in many ways. And of course,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2198.46,"endTime":2202.51,"body":"the strangler figs, for me are"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2198.46,"endTime":2202.51,"body":"the quintessential aspect of the"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2202.51,"endTime":2205.39,"body":"rainforest that transmits that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2202.51,"endTime":2205.39,"body":"feeling. Because when you walk"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2205.39,"endTime":2210.1,"body":"through a forest, and you come"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2205.39,"endTime":2210.1,"body":"across these things, they do"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2210.1,"endTime":2212.92,"body":"blow your mind. They're they're"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2210.1,"endTime":2212.92,"body":"so big, they're so dominant,"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2214.15,"endTime":2218.62,"body":"and, you know, if you spend any"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2214.15,"endTime":2218.62,"body":"time trying to understand them"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2218.62,"endTime":2220.93,"body":"as well, then you understand how"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2218.62,"endTime":2220.93,"body":"important they are."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2221.38,"endTime":2225.25,"body":"Yeah, you write"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2221.38,"endTime":2225.25,"body":"that, speaking of figs, their"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2225.25,"endTime":2229.0,"body":"power and fertility demand the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2225.25,"endTime":2229.0,"body":"attention and respect of every"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2229.0,"endTime":2232.93,"body":"human eye that sees them. So"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2229.0,"endTime":2232.93,"body":"what would you say, I mean, you"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2232.93,"endTime":2237.55,"body":"obviously have a great love for"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2232.93,"endTime":2237.55,"body":"fig trees, including the banyan,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2237.94,"endTime":2241.18,"body":"what meaning do you derive from"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2237.94,"endTime":2241.18,"body":"it? What meaning does it have"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2241.18,"endTime":2241.69,"body":"for you?"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2242.38,"endTime":2245.2,"body":"Well, studying"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2242.38,"endTime":2245.2,"body":"ecology and fig trees in"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2245.2,"endTime":2248.59,"body":"particular, is a constant"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2245.2,"endTime":2248.59,"body":"reminder that everything is"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2248.59,"endTime":2252.16,"body":"connected and understanding that"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2248.59,"endTime":2252.16,"body":"and appreciating that I think is"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2252.16,"endTime":2254.5,"body":"what studying figs has really"},{"speaker":"Mike Shanahan","startTime":2252.16,"endTime":2254.5,"body":"given to me. [music]"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2258.43,"endTime":2260.83,"body":"Whoa, we've come"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2258.43,"endTime":2260.83,"body":"a long way and understanding the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2260.83,"endTime":2264.91,"body":"special lineage of the little"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2260.83,"endTime":2264.91,"body":"tree planted by Edison for latex"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2264.91,"endTime":2268.69,"body":"in 1926 in Fort Myers. But like"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2264.91,"endTime":2268.69,"body":"the tree grown from the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2268.69,"endTime":2272.74,"body":"toothpick of the poet Kabir on"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2268.69,"endTime":2272.74,"body":"an island in the Narmada River"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2272.77,"endTime":2276.25,"body":"back in the 15th century, and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2272.77,"endTime":2276.25,"body":"many other banyans through time,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2276.28,"endTime":2280.24,"body":"the Edison Banyan has grown to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2276.28,"endTime":2280.24,"body":"be awe inspiring. That seems to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2280.24,"endTime":2284.05,"body":"be its true purpose. It's an"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2280.24,"endTime":2284.05,"body":"inspiring immigrant story, if"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2284.05,"endTime":2287.35,"body":"you will, but one that adds to"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2284.05,"endTime":2287.35,"body":"thousands of years of stories"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2287.35,"endTime":2291.88,"body":"about fig trees, this time with"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2287.35,"endTime":2291.88,"body":"an American twist. And as our"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2291.88,"endTime":2295.15,"body":"friend Debbie explains, the tree"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2291.88,"endTime":2295.15,"body":"is quite a handful as it"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2295.15,"endTime":2296.59,"body":"continues to expand."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2296.8,"endTime":2300.13,"body":"If we could get"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2296.8,"endTime":2300.13,"body":"rid of the parking lot, and we"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2300.13,"endTime":2302.56,"body":"could let it walk some more? And"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2300.13,"endTime":2302.56,"body":"that's what we're going to do."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2302.95,"endTime":2306.4,"body":"It's just the kind of thing"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2302.95,"endTime":2306.4,"body":"where we allow the tree to be"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2306.4,"endTime":2311.05,"body":"the boss, and that's one of the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2306.4,"endTime":2311.05,"body":"things we have to allow. As far"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2311.05,"endTime":2314.2,"body":"as the buildings go, we do"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2311.05,"endTime":2314.2,"body":"protect it that direction, so it"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2314.2,"endTime":2317.23,"body":"doesn't destroy any buildings"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2314.2,"endTime":2317.23,"body":"from any kind of damage from"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2317.35,"endTime":2321.97,"body":"limbs falling. I have the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2317.35,"endTime":2321.97,"body":"arborist look at it, go up in a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2322.51,"endTime":2325.84,"body":"lift, and we check to make sure"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2322.51,"endTime":2325.84,"body":"everything is good."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2325.84,"endTime":2329.29,"body":"[And still one"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2325.84,"endTime":2329.29,"body":"more surprising tale.] At some"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2329.29,"endTime":2334.69,"body":"point that tree started to grow"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2329.29,"endTime":2334.69,"body":"like mad and start to spread."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2335.02,"endTime":2337.66,"body":"Let me tell you"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2335.02,"endTime":2337.66,"body":"about that. In order for them to"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2337.66,"endTime":2341.35,"body":"get it to spread more - it is a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2337.66,"endTime":2341.35,"body":"champion anyway, it is a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2341.35,"endTime":2345.55,"body":"champion tree. It's the largest"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2341.35,"endTime":2345.55,"body":"continental banyan tree in the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2345.55,"endTime":2350.29,"body":"whole United States. The"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2345.55,"endTime":2350.29,"body":"definite improvement and making"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2350.29,"endTime":2355.39,"body":"it walk was done by a curator,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2350.29,"endTime":2355.39,"body":"Mr. Holgren. Now this is just an"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2355.39,"endTime":2359.56,"body":"urban legend also, but I kind of"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2355.39,"endTime":2359.56,"body":"believe this happened. Wherever"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2359.56,"endTime":2363.37,"body":"they wanted a new aerial roots"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2359.56,"endTime":2363.37,"body":"to fall down and and start into"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2363.37,"endTime":2367.6,"body":"the ground again. So they took a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2363.37,"endTime":2367.6,"body":"shot gun and they would shoot"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2367.6,"endTime":2371.83,"body":"holes exactly where they wanted"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2367.6,"endTime":2371.83,"body":"those aerial roots to start"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2371.83,"endTime":2375.16,"body":"growing [oh boy].And that put a"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2371.83,"endTime":2375.16,"body":"little stress on that getting"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2375.16,"endTime":2380.8,"body":"shot I'm sure. So it kind of"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2375.16,"endTime":2380.8,"body":"maybe made the chemicals come"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2380.8,"endTime":2384.31,"body":"out and say okay, I need to put"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2380.8,"endTime":2384.31,"body":"some roots here. And you know,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2384.31,"endTime":2387.7,"body":"in honesty, that's one of the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2384.31,"endTime":2387.7,"body":"reasons why we need to get rid"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2387.7,"endTime":2390.49,"body":"of the parking lot too because"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2387.7,"endTime":2390.49,"body":"we need to do some more of those"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2390.49,"endTime":2392.83,"body":"shotgun shootings."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2392.83,"endTime":2394.09,"body":"Oh, do you have a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2392.83,"endTime":2394.09,"body":"shotgun?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2396.37,"endTime":2397.96,"body":"[Both laugh] I'm"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2396.37,"endTime":2397.96,"body":"not gonna say we're gonna do"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2397.96,"endTime":2401.41,"body":"that. We're gonna see how it"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2397.96,"endTime":2401.41,"body":"works [okay] But that is an"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2401.41,"endTime":2402.67,"body":"urban legend for sure."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2403.06,"endTime":2405.49,"body":"How does it"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2403.06,"endTime":2405.49,"body":"inspire people, do you think?"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2406.15,"endTime":2408.7,"body":"What do they say after they see"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2406.15,"endTime":2408.7,"body":"it?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2409.54,"endTime":2413.26,"body":"They say that"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2409.54,"endTime":2413.26,"body":"they have gone to tree heaven."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2413.95,"endTime":2418.09,"body":"You know, some people actually"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2413.95,"endTime":2418.09,"body":"have a bucket list of trees they"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2418.09,"endTime":2420.28,"body":"want to see. And that's one of"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2418.09,"endTime":2420.28,"body":"them."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2420.64,"endTime":2422.08,"body":"How many years"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2420.64,"endTime":2422.08,"body":"have you worked there?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2422.62,"endTime":2423.49,"body":"Sixteen."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2424.69,"endTime":2428.29,"body":"After 16 years of"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2424.69,"endTime":2428.29,"body":"working there, what meaning does"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2428.29,"endTime":2429.43,"body":"the tree have for you?"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2430.09,"endTime":2436.27,"body":"Job security for"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2430.09,"endTime":2436.27,"body":"one [Doug laughs]. It is, to me"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2436.27,"endTime":2441.7,"body":"that tree is gonna go on"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2436.27,"endTime":2441.7,"body":"forever. And I know that the"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2441.7,"endTime":2444.58,"body":"next person who takes over"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2441.7,"endTime":2444.58,"body":"they're gonna love it just as"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2444.58,"endTime":2445.21,"body":"much as me."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2445.54,"endTime":2448.72,"body":"Well Debbie,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2445.54,"endTime":2448.72,"body":"you've been a charming guest on"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2448.72,"endTime":2451.42,"body":"This Old Tree. I really"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2448.72,"endTime":2451.42,"body":"appreciate you taking the time"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2451.42,"endTime":2457.75,"body":"to talk about the Edison Banyan,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2451.42,"endTime":2457.75,"body":"and I wish you well in caring"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2457.75,"endTime":2461.8,"body":"for the tree [and keeping it"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2457.75,"endTime":2461.8,"body":"healthy] keeping it healthy and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2461.8,"endTime":2464.32,"body":"expanding. Thank you for coming"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2461.8,"endTime":2464.32,"body":"on the show."},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2464.38,"endTime":2466.72,"body":"Thanks Doug,"},{"speaker":"Debbie Hughes","startTime":2464.38,"endTime":2466.72,"body":"you're the best."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2467.02,"endTime":2469.12,"body":"Once again, I'd"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2467.02,"endTime":2469.12,"body":"like to thank Debbie Hughes for"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2469.12,"endTime":2472.84,"body":"coming on the show, and thank"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2469.12,"endTime":2472.84,"body":"the Edison \u0026 Ford Winter Estates"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2472.87,"endTime":2475.54,"body":"in the city of Fort Myers for"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2472.87,"endTime":2475.54,"body":"allowing us to feature the"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2475.54,"endTime":2479.11,"body":"Edison Banyan Tree. I'd also"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2475.54,"endTime":2479.11,"body":"like to thank Mike Shanahan for"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2479.11,"endTime":2482.38,"body":"an incredibly engaging"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2479.11,"endTime":2482.38,"body":"discussion about fig trees. His"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2482.38,"endTime":2486.46,"body":"book, Gods, Wasps, and Figs is a"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2482.38,"endTime":2486.46,"body":"fantastic read and I can't"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2486.46,"endTime":2490.3,"body":"recommend it enough. I've listed"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2486.46,"endTime":2490.3,"body":"it in the show notes. In early"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2490.3,"endTime":2493.15,"body":"October, I'm going to get"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2490.3,"endTime":2493.15,"body":"Patreon up and running and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2493.15,"endTime":2496.42,"body":"Patreon subscribers will be able"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2493.15,"endTime":2496.42,"body":"to get the full interviews with"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2496.42,"endTime":2499.33,"body":"Debbie and Mike. I'm Doug Still,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2496.42,"endTime":2499.33,"body":"and if you liked the show,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2499.33,"endTime":2502.69,"body":"please subscribe and tune in"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2499.33,"endTime":2502.69,"body":"every other week for more human"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2502.69,"endTime":2507.07,"body":"stories about heritage trees."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2502.69,"endTime":2507.07,"body":"You can find us on Facebook and"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2507.07,"endTime":2510.28,"body":"Instagram as well. And if you'd"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2507.07,"endTime":2510.28,"body":"like to stick around, we have"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2510.28,"endTime":2513.79,"body":"our very first listener"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2510.28,"endTime":2513.79,"body":"submitted Tree Story Short by"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2513.79,"endTime":2518.68,"body":"Sushil Sachdeva from Vadodara,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2513.79,"endTime":2518.68,"body":"India about a special mango"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2518.68,"endTime":2520.24,"body":"tree. See you next time!"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2520.27,"endTime":2525.31,"body":"This"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2520.27,"endTime":2525.31,"body":"old tree, standing here for more"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2525.31,"endTime":2531.88,"body":"than four centuries. Wonder what"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2525.31,"endTime":2531.88,"body":"you'd say if you could talk to"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2531.88,"endTime":2542.05,"body":"me about what it's like to be,,"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2531.88,"endTime":2542.05,"body":"this old tree. Shadow and shade,"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2543.55,"endTime":2549.82,"body":"kids down the block are selling"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2543.55,"endTime":2549.82,"body":"lemonade. Send them down to cool"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2549.85,"endTime":2557.98,"body":"breezes sweet cascade, tailor"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2549.85,"endTime":2557.98,"body":"made by this old tree. In"},{"speaker":"This Old Tree song - Dee Lee","startTime":2561.55,"endTime":2562.72,"body":"1600..."},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2563.68,"endTime":2568.15,"body":"Hi, I am Sushil"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2563.68,"endTime":2568.15,"body":"Sachdeva, a 61 year old"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2568.18,"endTime":2572.83,"body":"agriculturist from India. I'm"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2568.18,"endTime":2572.83,"body":"delighted to share with this"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2572.83,"endTime":2578.2,"body":"august audience the story of a"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2572.83,"endTime":2578.2,"body":"giant sized mango tree, which my"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2578.2,"endTime":2582.55,"body":"family is so passionate and"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2578.2,"endTime":2582.55,"body":"possessive about. It is located"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2582.55,"endTime":2586.6,"body":"in the backyard of our family"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2582.55,"endTime":2586.6,"body":"farmhouse adjoining a lemon"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2586.63,"endTime":2592.12,"body":"orchard, and a poultry farm in a"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2586.63,"endTime":2592.12,"body":"village at Vadodara, a city in"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2592.12,"endTime":2596.8,"body":"the western part of India. Not"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2592.12,"endTime":2596.8,"body":"by design, it actually fell into"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2596.8,"endTime":2601.66,"body":"our lap as the most nondescript"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2596.8,"endTime":2601.66,"body":"object standing amidst the woods"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2602.05,"endTime":2605.68,"body":"on the periphery of a parcel of"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2602.05,"endTime":2605.68,"body":"agricultural land that I"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2605.68,"endTime":2611.59,"body":"purchased about 15 years ago."},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2605.68,"endTime":2611.59,"body":"Somehow, I happen to spot that"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2611.59,"endTime":2616.39,"body":"here I was, blessed with a"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2611.59,"endTime":2616.39,"body":"natural gem in its most rustic"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2616.39,"endTime":2621.37,"body":"form, which my predecessors on"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2616.39,"endTime":2621.37,"body":"this land, being people of"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2621.37,"endTime":2626.23,"body":"limited resources and meager"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2621.37,"endTime":2626.23,"body":"means had no eye for. In the"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2626.23,"endTime":2629.23,"body":"following couple of years, I"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2626.23,"endTime":2629.23,"body":"went about redesigning the"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2629.23,"endTime":2634.54,"body":"landscape of the two acre area"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2629.23,"endTime":2634.54,"body":"around this tree, and now there"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2634.54,"endTime":2640.75,"body":"it stands as a royalty estimated"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2634.54,"endTime":2640.75,"body":"to be 60 to 70 years of age 70"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2640.75,"endTime":2646.42,"body":"feet tall with a crown diameter"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2640.75,"endTime":2646.42,"body":"of 50 feet. So majestically"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2646.45,"endTime":2650.74,"body":"overlooking the entire 10 acre"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2646.45,"endTime":2650.74,"body":"plot, with beautifully manicured"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2650.74,"endTime":2655.87,"body":"lawns and the family farmhouse"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2650.74,"endTime":2655.87,"body":"tucked almost underneath on one"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2655.87,"endTime":2661.21,"body":"side and the seasonal rivulet"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2655.87,"endTime":2661.21,"body":"flowing on the other. Every year"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2661.33,"endTime":2665.89,"body":"in February or March, with a"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2661.33,"endTime":2665.89,"body":"bated breath, we wait for the"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2665.89,"endTime":2670.36,"body":"appearance of flowers, which"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2665.89,"endTime":2670.36,"body":"then convert to pea sized fruits"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2670.39,"endTime":2674.59,"body":"in a month's time. Usually,"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2670.39,"endTime":2674.59,"body":"around the first week of June"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2674.62,"endTime":2679.72,"body":"the fruits are harvested. Being"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2674.62,"endTime":2679.72,"body":"a native cultivar and managed"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2679.75,"endTime":2684.64,"body":"fully with organic manures, the"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2679.75,"endTime":2684.64,"body":"produce varies between 800 to"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2684.64,"endTime":2689.74,"body":"1500 number of fruits per year."},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2684.64,"endTime":2689.74,"body":"These are six to seven inches"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2689.74,"endTime":2694.78,"body":"long, kidney shaped green"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2689.74,"endTime":2694.78,"body":"mangoes each weighing over a"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2694.78,"endTime":2699.79,"body":"pound. These precious little"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2694.78,"endTime":2699.79,"body":"little bounties are not for"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2699.79,"endTime":2705.25,"body":"sale. They are meant to be"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2699.79,"endTime":2705.25,"body":"devoured by family and friends,"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2705.52,"endTime":2711.13,"body":"located even as far as a"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2705.52,"endTime":2711.13,"body":"thousand miles away. Neatly"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2711.13,"endTime":2715.66,"body":"packed into 20 pound parcels,"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2711.13,"endTime":2715.66,"body":"they are shipped away to reach"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2715.69,"endTime":2720.67,"body":"respective destinations within"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2715.69,"endTime":2720.67,"body":"five to seven days, by when they"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2720.67,"endTime":2725.2,"body":"have ripened into golden yellow,"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2720.67,"endTime":2725.2,"body":"sweet smelling mangoes with a"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2725.2,"endTime":2730.21,"body":"distinctive aroma. We are still"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2725.2,"endTime":2730.21,"body":"searching for a name for this"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2730.63,"endTime":2735.37,"body":"rarest of rare cultivars. But I"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2730.63,"endTime":2735.37,"body":"assure you that all those who"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2735.37,"endTime":2739.72,"body":"have been fortunate to taste"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2735.37,"endTime":2739.72,"body":"even a single bite vouch that"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2739.72,"endTime":2745.84,"body":"they haven't ever come across"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2739.72,"endTime":2745.84,"body":"anything similar. No wonder my"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2745.84,"endTime":2749.89,"body":"80 year old aunt from Delhi over"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2745.84,"endTime":2749.89,"body":"a phone call the other day,"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2750.46,"endTime":2754.45,"body":"almost admonishingly demanded"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2750.46,"endTime":2754.45,"body":"that I send her a larger"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2754.45,"endTime":2759.52,"body":"consignment the next year. Yeah,"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2754.45,"endTime":2759.52,"body":"I realized that she, with a"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2759.52,"endTime":2763.54,"body":"family of four, had just"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2759.52,"endTime":2763.54,"body":"consumed only 60 of them this"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2763.54,"endTime":2767.41,"body":"year. Thanks for your time. Bye"},{"speaker":"Sashil Sachdeva","startTime":2763.54,"endTime":2767.41,"body":"then."},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2769.15,"endTime":2771.7,"body":"Thank you Sushil,"},{"speaker":"Douglas Still","startTime":2769.15,"endTime":2771.7,"body":"and have a good day everyone."}]}