Australian Aboriginals replanted an ancient boab tree, after it was driven thousands of kilometres with a police escort to save it from destruction.
A road widening scheme meant the tree, estimated to be 750 years old had to be uprooted from its home in Western Australia and moved 3, 200 km by truck to a park in state capital Perth.
'Everyone is hoping that the tree will live for another 750 years' said horticulturist and project coordinator Patrick Courtney . 'We are giving it the best chance it would ever have got'.
The bottle-shaped tree can live for up to 2, 000 years and is a native of the remote northern Kimberly district of Western Australia state. It weighs 36 tonnes stands 14 metres high and is 2.5 metres in diameter.
The tree played a significant role in the traditions of the local Gija people. As the tree was in its dormant stage in the tropical dry season, few special measures were needed to be taken to keep it alive during the journey. It will be in the company of another 14 young boab trees, which seem quite happy in the more temperate climate of the Perth region.
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