On second thoughts, make that standing taller. Not only does grass predate us by a whopping 70 million years, but it has fed and clothed the entire human race in the run-up to the twentieth century. How, you may ask. Well, if there were no grasslands, there would be no grazing. If there was no grazing, mankind wouldn’t have been able to survive in harsh climatic conditions unsuitable for agriculture, and tend livestock. And without sheep, goats and cattle, we would still be wearing fur and hunting with spears in the wilderness.

Never underestimate importance of the family ‘Poaceae’. Grasslands comprise one of the four great terrestrial habitats or biomes; the others being forest, desert and tundra. They cover a quarter of earth’s land and have nurtured and nourished it like their very own from the age of the dinosaurs. Rolled into one, grass was the ancient world’s first fertiliser and farmer.

Even today, when the dense root-network beneath the world's grasslands decay, it converts into fertile humus, which is the power-pack of life. Humus is the bridge between the living and dead matter and recycles the building materials for new life.

The Homo erectus, from which we all have evolved, flourished and multiplied on the dusty savannah grassland. The landscape of the steppe grasslands helped turn the Huns into fearsome fighting machines.

Wheat, rice, maize and sugar are all forms of grasses. The grass family, Poaceae, is today recognised as a cosmopolitan assemblage of 10,000 species, annual and perrinial, usually considered to be among the most evolutionary advanced of plants, with members distributed from the equator to the Arctic snows and ranging from tiny creeping plants to tree like bamboo.

Now, close your eyes and think of grass. Do you still see just a neighbourhood park, a field in the country or a lush green sports pitch? Or do you see something more critical to our survival, something that you hope will be part of the Earth’s landscape forever?

Grass is one of the most successful terrestrial life forms. Some claim that as the rains pick up, they can literally see the grass grow. Certainly growth rates of a few centimetres in a few hours have been measured. A walk virtually anywhere on earth will tread over grass.

Grass species are "increase strategists" that make a living by growing, reproducing and dying back in one short season. Great emphasis is perforce placed on seeds. The plants themselves are just a few thin leaves, one or two stems and a seed head that weighs as much as the rest of the plant. Clearly these are organisms whose success lies in their ability to flourish when conditions are right. Since the correct conditions for growth and reproduction may be limited to a few short weeks of rain in the Serengeti, the grasses there have evolved to reproduce as quickly as possible.

Organisms that produce an abundance of seed are tenacious colonisers, especially when the seeds are equipped to enhance dispersal.Some have hooks to attach the hair or a passing animal. Others have an edible and tough seed coating to attract herbivores and also survive their digestive juices. Still others sport feathery devices to catch and float on the wind. If conditions are favourable for flowering, the plants propagate by vegetative means, literally creeping over the bare surface and putting, down roots where there is a bit of soil and a touch of moisture. The roots may reach down several metres and contribute to the breakdown of soil. Given its simple structure and rapid growth, grass is one of the fastest means to present the elements to the eaters. Grass is to soil as wildebeest are to grass. The primary production of African grasslands is prolific. Perhaps greater than that of any other ecosystem on earth, even forests. During the rains each square kilometre of grassland can produce almost a kilo of edible material every month – some 1,000 kilos to the square kilometre. This rapid conversion of materials into an easily available and edible form creates the opportunity for numerous herbivores to exist, and the very grazing of those animals stimulates the grass sward to produce even more than it would without animal mowing.