Mangrove trees are plants that dominate coastal habitats of the tropics and subtropics. Pneumatophores are small spiky looking plants that live in the coastal soil along side the mangrove trees. Northern Africa was heavily populated with mangrove swamps during the Eocene epoch. These swamps were populated by large herbivores like Moeritherium and Birgerbohlinia. Moeritherium feasted on the plants that grew underwater, and Birgerbohlinia probably ate mangrove tree leaves. Small apes like Apidium also lived in these swamps. Apidium would have to cross the countless rivers to get to the small islands that populated North Africa. Since there were herbivores, there were also carnivores. Andrewsarchus was a Creodont that hunted on land, while sharks like Serratolamna swam in the rivers. Sometimes even large carnivorous whales like Basilosaurus hunted in these swamps.
