On the edge of a busy road near Bengaluru stands a banyan so vast it looks like an entire grove rather than a single tree.

Hundreds of kilometres away in West Bengal, another banyan has outlived its original trunk but continues to thrive through thousands of aerial roots.

In Telangana, towering banyans draw birds, bats and insects beneath their branches year after year.

And in Bihar, scientists have now confirmed that one banyan has stood for nearly 700 years, silently witnessing generations come and go.

Across India, these ancient giants are far more than landmarks.

Scientists classify mature banyans as keystone species — organisms that support entire ecosystems. Over its lifetime, a single banyan can feed, shelter and help sustain hundreds of birds, mammals, insects and other living creatures.

That idea has received fresh scientific support this year.

A recent study from Telangana's Kanha Shanti Vanam, along with the radiocarbon dating of Bihar's ancient Munger banyan, reinforces what ecologists have long known: protecting old banyan trees also protects the rich web of life that depends on them.

Earlier this month, scientists confirmed that a banyan tree in Bihar's Munger district is around 700 years old, making it the oldest accurately dated banyan (Ficus benghalensis) identified so far.

Unlike earlier estimates based on folklore or historical records, researchers used high-precision radiocarbon dating to determine its age.

The discovery is more than a........

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