Cactus

* Cactus (S2)
* Cactus (S1)

* April 27, 2019 (in-game)

The **Cactus** is a source of food that was released as part of the Desert update. They are often located randomly across the expanse of the Desert and can produce Cactus Pears. There was a nerf in January to desert foods so now they give less XP (25K for Black widow).

## Technical

* Cacti have a Health Bar. They are typically able to be eaten in 5 hits (unless you're using the Elephant's ability to damage it).
	+ Black Dragons and King Dragons can eat cacti in one hit.
* Upon contact, cacti can either bounce the Animal back slightly without harm, deal moderate damage, stun with slight damage, or cause bleeding for a few seconds. These chances are independent so it's possible to be stunned, hurt, or bleed on every bite.
* As of the Golden Age, the only animal that can damage it by usage of abilities is the Elephant.
* The XP that you can get is as follows(#GoldenAge, these numbers are not up to date):
	+ For Tier 12; 26K XP.
	+ For Tier 13; 48.75K XP.
	+ For Tier 14; 65K XP.
	+ For Tier 15; 78K XP.
	+ For Tier 16 and 17; 39K XP.
* Cacti absorbs water when an animal tries to shoot a cactus with water, it will eventually split when it becomes oversized.
	+ The Cactus that splits off from the original travels opposite from where the water was shot constantly, despawning after a few seconds. This is most likely meant to be a defensive tactic or to potentially steal kills. This smaller cacti does high damage on animals.
* Cactus Pears spawn in bulk around cacti.

## Appearance

A cactus is a green, 8-shaped star-like circle with brownish-white spikes. Since the #GoldenAge update it was resized and made a lot smaller.

## Strategy

Cacti are the most beneficial foods for tiers 12 to 14, even with the recent nerf, and can be harvested in bulk with the healing power of Aloevera to eat them without losing too much health. Now with the new nerfs, cacti don't always inflict damage and can either stun with a microscopic amount of damage or bleed for a few seconds, so eating aloevera(either the plant or the leaves) isn't as necessary unless you're eating a ton at the same time. Also, you can avoid taking damage if you bite at the non-spiky parts of the cactus, but this requires precise aim and coordination.

For apex tier, you cannot as easily eat cacti, since Aloevera has no effect. Therefore, the best way to farm them is by lurking near another tier 12/13/14 animal that is trying to eat one, then chasing them off and eating the cactus for yourself. Some players may try to retaliate after you eat the cactus, so try to avoid their Special Ability if they use it. Be wary of your health when farming cacti: You never know when another apex tier might show up when you're low on health. When your health gets low, stop eating cacti for a moment and try to find a Healing Stone. If you'd like to keep gaining xp while healing you can distract yourself with aloe vera in the meantime.

Sea Monsters are able to use their whirlpool to suck in cacti that are on the shore and into the ocean. While doing so, the cacti can be consumed in one hit. Do this for a small XP boost, but do so sparingly as another Sea Monster or Giant Scorpion could come along and kill you. It's normally safer to farm Conches on islands. The xp given is smaller, but they respawn very quickly on islands and can be found in decent amounts.

Cacti can also help you level up as Kraken. Using this strategy, go near the shore between Ocean and Desert, and use your ability. Any Cacti nearby will be sucked in and eaten quickly, giving you 75k XP(As of GoldenAge update). This is more XP than a typical Shark, and if you only eat cacti, it will take around 38 cacti. Note the cactus will likely damage you(how much exactly depends on RNG, it could be anywhere from 1/8 to 3/4), and that other Krakens and King Crabs may take advantage of this to try to kill you. Also be sure to watch for Sea Monsters, Golden Eagles, Pakistani Vultures, Shabazes, and T-Rex's, which are the 4 largest threats while using this strategy. (You can also use this strategy with Aloe Vera, which will give you 1/3 the XP and takes double the hits to eat, but doesn't damage you at all) .

The T-Rex is also able to use its ability to easily eat cacti. Drag another animal around with your bite, and shove it into the cactus. The animal will simultaneously be damaged and also reduce the health bar of the cactus, allowing you to finish it off in a single bite. *Note:* this only works on animals that are tier 12 and above.

## Gallery

Cacti with pears spawning around it, above a Desert Rat.A small cactus with pears, that has some of its health damaged.The stunning caused from a cactus, on a Night Komodo.A Gobi Bear eating melons near a **cactus**.
## Trivia

* Giant Scorpions and Black Dragons used to not take damage from cacti, but this feature was later removed.
* Since the #GoldenAge, cacti give more XP but are less common, and are also smaller. They also cannot be damaged by the Special Abilities of any animal except the Elephant.
* Cacti was nerfed, giving significantly less, but does not always stun. Instead, it can either do no damage, do the damage it did before with no stun, stun like previously with miniscule damage, or cause bleeding for a few seconds. This makes cacti faster to farm but at the cost of giving less.
	+ Before, it stunned and caused damage upon contact. In total with the 5 bites needed to eat it, it would deal enough damage to leave the Animal at around 1/4 of its hp without aloevera. Modern cacti can still do this with bad RNG.
* These are the only food sources that can directly cause damage to other animals.
	+ It's possible for a cactus to spawn right in front of a player(often when the player is boosting) and may damage them/stun them/cause bleeding this way. If the player has low enough health the cactus could kill them.
	+ Cacti tends to get picked up by tornadoes(especially Dust Devils) in large amounts. If a player is picked up they may be killed by touching the many cacti. This was especially prominent before the nerf but can still happen, especially if the player is a low tier animal or has low hp. Tornadoes in the desert have a bad reputation for this reason.
	+ When you die from cactus pricking, the game will send the same message as it would if you were eaten.

* Removed
 **Berry** •  **Plankton** •  **Lilypad** •  **Brown Mushroom** •  **Arctic Brown Mushroom** •  **Red Mushroom** •  **Arctic Red Mushroom** •  **Mushroom Bush** •  **Arctic Mushroom Bush** •  **Banana** •  **Coconut** •  **Water Pod** •  **Arctic Water Pod** •  **Pear** •  **Raspberry** •  **Watermelon** •  **Watermelon Slice** •  **Carrot** •  **Arctic Nut** •  **Meat** •  **Seaweed** •  **Starfish** •  **Kelp** •  **Clam** •  **Conch** •  **Cloudberry** •  **Beehive** •  **Honeycomb** •  **Mango** •  **Date** •  **Orange** •  ****Cactus**** •  **Cactus Pear** •  **Melon** •  **Melon Slice** • **Aloevera** •  **Aloevera Leaf** •  **Chili Pepper** •  **Carcass** •  **Bone** •  **Egg** ·  **Golden Egg** •  **Baked Turkey**