Prickly Pear

“Galápagos Giant Prickly Pear in the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador grows tall to survive tortoises!

It is a prickly pear cacti with towering trunks that can reach over 40 feet or 12 meters high. On islands without tortoises, the cacti does not grow towering trunks, however, on tortoise occupied islands, the cacti grow large and have a ‘bark’ with their pads held high out of reach.

Many researchers have compared the Galapagos tortoises to giraffes and sauropods who have also increased their neck lengths dramatically in order to reach food. ”