Figs Eat Wasps Before You Eat The Fig

The life of the fig wasp is nature at its worst—from our human perspective, anyway. In order to lay their eggs, female fig wasps have to squeeze into the flowering body of a fig, losing their wings and antennae along the way. It's all downhill from there.

Host: Sarah Suta (she/her)
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[VBandit]

The fact that the fig digests the dead bodies of the wasps is weirder than the initial "you're eating wasp eggs" rumor ever was

[LimeyLassen]

If anyone's wondering why the plant would do this, it's because flowers benefit from having an exclusive relationship with one species of pollinator. It's the same reason bell flowers have long tubes only hummingbirds can reach into, and tomatoes won't release their pollen unless they're vibrated at just the right frequency by a bumblebee.

[sanalone]

i don't think i've ever been more grateful to have been born a human being than i was after learning about the life of a fig wasp

[glitch]

Born within the fig
Bred within the fig
Die within the fig
Life for the life-giving fig

[Romanticoutlaw]

tearing off your own sensory organs and limbs to lay your eggs in an extremely specific place that will digest you... nature is insane

[jasminecollins]

Most figs you'll eat never had any wasps in them. Fig wasps are diverse and widespread, but the types that go with each fig aren't transported along with the fig plants to be cultivated for consumption, and they do not require it in order to fruit. Only a few specific types of figs actually require a fig wasp.

[vincentx]

Some male fig wasps, after chewing their way through the fruit's body, will also exit the fig to act as meatshields so they could cover the escape of female wasps from potential predators waiting outside, such as ants.

[OlyChickenGuy]

And if you eat blackberries, you're pretty much guaranteed to eat fruit fly larva! I forget the exact species, but after finding that my blackberries were full of worms, I looked it up and read that the fles most commonly found in blackberries evolved alongside Himalayan blackberries specifically and made it to the US very shortly after the Himalayan blackberries did back in the 80s. There's nothing wrong with eating them, and scientists suggest that humans have probably been eating these larva for tens of thousands of years to begin with. I'm still kind of getting over it, myself... but I don't think I can give up my favorite late summer bounty just because a safe-to-eat bug infests them!

[NewMessage]

Considering how wonderful they taste, I couldn't give a rotten fig if they were full of bugs or not!

[kingLorshi]

Man wasps are so underappreciated, thank you for this video.
Nature can be quite figged, but they've got it figured out. I guess.

[ketsuekikumori]

For those wondering why the wasps don't have (or rather have minimum) issues of inbreeding, I recommend watching Gross Science's video on inbreeding.
PS - I miss Gross Science

[likebot.]

Almost like fig wasps are effectively part of the fig - with nerves, chitin, legs, eyes and a certain level of autonomy: an animal in the plant kingdom or vice versa.

[unimportantaccount]

Living life in a small room whose existence I make possible but will end up being my tomb? Sounds like my cubicle.

[mprojekt]

The scenes your team used of the wasps in the figs suddenly brought to mind what an inversion of the "xenomorph" lifecycle, from the Alien movies, might be like.

[tgbluewolf]

"It's like if a human woman traveled from L.A. to Iceland to find a mate."
Honestly it feels like it might come to that.

[zoopdterdoobdter]

<Looks at his sleeve of Fig Newtons> 😬
I was perfectly fine not knowing this...

[marklittle]

All knowledge is power. That was a great episode wonderful insight into how the world that we often take for granted works

[Regfife]

So basically, the wasps get turned into "figgy" pudding.

[Greendawn-didl]

I mean, they have enzymes, because it's fruit. Worms by proxy, get eaten by granny smiths apples. They didn't know the acidity, burrowed in. Died.

[GammaPunk]

Alexa, play "Big Fig Wasp" by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard