Banana Panic! Is the Fruit Really on the Brink of Extinction?

Enjoy your banana pancakes while they last. A tropical fungus that causes Panama disease could wipe out the Cavendish—the most popular variety of banana—in the not-so-distant future. To make matters worse, a wild crop of bananas in Madagascar that could help diversify the fruit's gene pool and protect the Cavendish was just put on the extinction list, the BBC reports.

Throughout the world, the Cavendish is the type of banana that’s most commonly consumed. The Madagascan banana produces seeds, rendering it inedible, but researchers at the Kew Madagascar Conservation Centre say it could be cross-bred to create a new kind of banana that’s both tasty and resilient. In other words, the key to saving the fruit is expanding its genes. Although it is nearly extinct, the African variety seems particularly promising because it could have unique properties that make it resistant to drought or disease.

"It doesn't have Panama disease in it, so perhaps it has genetic traits against the disease," Richard Allen, senior conservation assessor at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, told the BBC. "We don't know until we actually do research on the banana itself, but we can't do the research until it's saved."

Banana panic has been ongoing for a few years, but Snopes reports that some fears—like claims that bananas will be extinct within a decade—are unfounded. However, threats to the Cavendish banana are very real, and it’s not the only crop that’s vulnerable. The world’s most popular wine grapes are also susceptible to pandemics for similar reasons, including a lack of genetic diversity. Scientists are now crossbreeding different varieties of grapes—much like efforts to save the banana—in an effort to keep the wine flowing.

[h/t BBC]