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They harvest wild yams in such a way that they regenerate and multiply, they try to avoid killing pregnant animals, and they consume everything that they take from their environs.

On the list were papaya, neem, asafoetida, figs, ginger, smartweed, wild yam, pennyroyal, black cohosh and angelica.

But whether the modern African crop was derived from D. abyssinica, a wild yam that grows in the savanna, or D. praehensilis, which thrives in the wetter rainforests, was not known.

The wild animals that formed the backbone of their diet, along with wild yams, could not survive among the monoculture plantations.

Three species of wild rice, along with two of wild wheat and 17 types of wild yam were listed as threatened due to deforestation and urban expansion, coupled with the pressures created by intensive agriculture.