How does the baobab store water?

The baobab is also known as the monkey-bread tree because baboons like to eat its large fruit. This tree stores water in the thick, spongy tissue of its stem. In the rainy season it can store up to 140,000 litres of water, which it uses during the subsequent dry period. Elephants damage these trees for their water reserve. They destroy the bark of the trees with their tusks, pull out the water-rich tissue from the stem, and suck it dry. Trees hollowed out in this way often collapse and die.