Central Africa 65 million years ago was a low-elevation tropical belt, but still undetermined is whether the region’s mammals lived beneath a lush rainforest canopy. Evidence is weak and unconvincing, says a paleobotanist. A review of the literature shows Cenozoic paleobotanical data for Africa are generally meager and uneven, and fossil pollen from Central and West Africa provide no definitive evidence for communities of rainforest trees.