Double coconut: The largest seed in the world

What is lost is lost
The unique gigantism of the double coconut reminds us that time and chance - in this case having already large seeds, randomly landing on a small island without big animals and staying there for thousands of generations - can drive the evolution of diverse features.

Lodoicea is protected but many other plants are facing extinction, together with the services that they provide to nature and humanity.

These services too, are the result of a long and contingent evolution. Recreating them once they are extinct will be much more difficult, often impossible, and more costly than saving them from extinction from the start.