A group of horticultural activists are using dinosaurs to highlight the plight of plants facing extinction.
Cycads, which date back 340 million years, are now more threatened than rhinos and South Africa, with 38 species, has the highest cycad diversity in Africa.
"Extinction! Dinosaurs and Cycads", which opened yesterday at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, features life-sized sculptures of the prehistoric creatures, including a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Four of the nine dinosaurs are indigenous to South Africa.
The exhibition was started as a way to link the past to biodiversity, compare the age of cycads, and illustrate how the plant that has outlived dinosaurs is on the brink of dying out.
"Cycads are more threatened than any other living organism. Even rhinos are not as highly threatened. We're highlighting that dinosaurs also once roamed the Earth," said horticulturist Phakamani Xaba.
Scientific coordinator Michele Pfab said three of South Africa's 38 species were already extinct in the wild and four were on the brink of extinction.
Pfab knows who to blame. "They meet homo sapiens, us, and now they're going extinct."
After a string of highly organised cycad thefts at Kirstenbosch last year, when plants valued at R500 000 were stolen, the plants are being micro-dotted - a technology more commonly used on vehicles.
Chris Charter from Micro ID said the dots were made of sheets of metal, 1½mm in diameter, bearing a unique number.
Under UV light, the plant can be identified according to the number.
"Micro ID is an covert measure because you can't see it," he said.
