A UCLA-led study discovered a critical link between endangered African elephants and threatened ebony trees, which can take 60-200 years to grow, and which provide the wood traditionally used for piano keys, guitars and other instruments.

Scientists knew almost nothing about how ebony trees, used for guitars and piano keys, grow. A new UCLA study reveals the secret ingredient: elephants.

The Ebony Project — a nine-year partnership between UCLA’s scientific leadership, the Indigenous Baka people of the Congo Basin and other local communities, and Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars — has been the first to identify the indispensable role of elephants in the natural regeneration of ebony.

“People think, ‘Oh, it’s a shame these magnificent creatures are threatened,’ but what they don’t understand is that we won’t just lose elephants, we’ll also lose the ecological functions they provide,” said UCLA distinguished research professor of ecology and evolutionary biology Thomas Smith. “Forest elephants are a keystone species that disperse the seeds of both large and small rainforest trees. If they go extinct, we risk losing the ecological processes that sustain rainforests.”

Explore more of the research from the UC Newsroom

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