Margaret Nyambura Mamai, a Maasai woman, places cactus pads infested with cochineal insects into healthy (and partially infested) thickets of prickly pear plants on the Laikipia Plateau.

Across Kenya’s wildlife-rich Laikipia Plateau, a thorny enemy is advancing. But a tiny sap-sucking insect may help save the region’s animals and people.

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A Plague of Cactus

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