Prickly Pear Cactus

I’m pretty sure I have seen videos of Galapagos tortoises eating the fruit, too.

Opuntia are very common here in the South of Spain where they are often used as a sort of hedging and the fruit can be found in the markets. Known as the chumbera, they were introduced at the end of the XV century or beginning of the XVI. They are however currently under severe attack from the Opuntia cochineal scale (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/eea.12756) and it is now hard to find a healthy plant in this area.

And, it seems it genuinely helps prevent hangover symptoms :

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/prickly-pear-may-be-hango/

The captive tortoises are fed the leaves with the largest spines stripped off. Their dependence on Opuntia leaves is supposedly one adaptive reason for the growth of the cactus trees, to get the leaves out of the reach of tortoises. I once stood stock still on a trail when a tortoise passed by me. It came very close, stopped and bit my sneaker. There was no power behind the bite. I could not feel it and it didn’t leave a mark on the sneaker.

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Good to see you on here @taitsougstad!

I’m glad you mentioned the Prickly Pear Pale Ale, I was definitely going that route. We find them around the Gallatin Valley here in Montana. It’s surprising to see the little cacti surviving the winters out here, hearty little plants!

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