Figs have tiny dead wasps inside them (but they're ok to eat)

[PedanticAntics]

Scientists have shown that over the course of a year, on average, about eight figs crawl into your mouth at night while you sleep.

[iamnoone]

Imagine living your whole life inside part of a living organism. It feeds you when you're young and dissolves you if you don't leave it soon enough. Your instincts tell you to mate with your siblings and burrow out of this thing that's all you've ever known, and then half of you die as soon as you reach the outside world, while the other half burrows into different pods to get digested there, surrounded by your own unborn babies

Sounds like a scifi. I love how wild nature is

[glenmorrison]

Botanist here. Adam, I have to say you really do your botany info accurately. It's clear you so careful research and it kicks ass.

[catylynch]

I have only vague memories of a fig tree that was in our backyard, when I was very little. I remember that it was fun to climb, and that it had large, thick leaves that provided shade from summer heat. For years, I heard my Mom recall how difficult it was to keep the patio clean from dropping figs. This was in Livermore, Calif., (east of San Francisco). She said that she would sweep, and hose the patio ... only to walk inside, and hear another "plop." Now it makes sense. The tree was, likely, rejecting the figs that were of no use to it. Fun stuff!

[rin_etoware_]

since i learned that the fig essentially dissolves the wasp inside it, that just made figs sound more monstrous to me

[TonyAlbera]

Finally a youtuber who plays his ads at the end of the video. As a paid customer of youtube premium which advertises no commercial interruption, it is frustrating when there is still commercial interruption.

[wtfserpico]

I picked up a pack of Fig Newtons for the first time in YEARS last week and thought something just wasn't the same about them...turns out it was the seeds and wasp bits that I was missing. Such a bummer. The seedy waspy Newtons were so much better.

[guyanomaly]

“Figs have tiny wasps inside them” can be said to the same rhythm as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

[Vegeta]

Thanks for getting the point immediately at the beginning of the video. Usually a lot of people try to bury the lead. I really appreciate that. I watched the whole video, good info here especially for someone who knows nothing about this stuff but has eaten a good amount of figs lol.

[Merlmabase]

I'm not weirded out by too much on the food realm, but this definitely blew my mind when I first learned of it. Adds a whole other freaky dimension to an already pretty alien (and beautiful) not-fruit

[Gregs_World]

At almost 60 years of age is a wonderful thing that I can learn something new every day
this (and of course I love your channel very much), is one of the most fascinating things I've ever heard
thank you for the education
what an unbelievable story
thank you

[angelbabycards]

No worries, Friends. I used to work at a large Fig Picking and Packing Company, here in Central California, (Jura Farms, Fruit Packing). It was my job, to walk around the fig trees in the hot summer mornings and afternoons, take refrigerated figs that had young fruit flies inside, where I would then place [One or Two figs] in a small brown bag, stapled to each fig tree, the tiny fruit flies would come out of the now warm figs, - and begin going from fig blossom to fig blossom, in very much the way We humans use bees to pollinate a variety of trees for fruit, etc. 'Honestly, it''s quite normal for them to do that, as they have done that specific job for probably Millions of years.'

And so: Yes, I'm 100% sure the small fruit flies will end up in the figs as we harvested them, but nobody gave it one thought, as the fruit flies are beneficial little insects that never gave us a second thought. They don't / can't bite, they don't care at all about humans, but they go straight away to their work as I recall, when I was a young man, back during the Summer of 1984. Yup.

In essence: the Fig picking process is labor intensive, the harvesting of figs that are placed into large wooden bins was a little dirty, as both Flies and a few Regular flies would naturally land on the figs outside of the warehouse processing room, - but the end result (Yummy Figs) was actually quite good. Mom used to love em. Grew up with Fig Newtons. No worries here, lol. - ' The Fig Newtons always tasted great! - Nuff Said.' - Peace. \\//

[johnr]

Say what you will about Adam’s culinary abilities; his selection of weird YouTube titles is so good they belong in a museum of their own. I would put this next to “cucumbers are melons and sometimes they explode.”

[ScreamingSicilian]

This was the most interesting thing I've seen on YouTube.
I've only heard the urban legends about how everyone was eating wasps.
When my mom moved out here in Vegas, she planted a fig tree and it would make fruit 4 times a year. Her favorite way to eat them was to wrap them in prosciutto.
Love your channel, keep up the great content!

[williamford]

Great video! Pleasantly surprised to see something about fig wasps in my feed. Someone may have already commented about this, but I think the wasps pictured at 0:33 and 2:06 are parasitoids of fig wasps in the family pteromalidae. They’re depositing their eggs through the fig so their larvae can feed on the developing fig wasps!

[jfrancium]

I was just telling my mom about fig wasps yesterday! Perfect timing, now I've gotta show this video to her so we can bond some more over weird bug facts

[dumptrck]

I just learned about this after eating some figs from my backyard, and I was very disturbed. thanks for the video, Adam!

[jilligain]

That was quite interesting! I planted a fig tree about 24 yrs ago & now every yr I get tons of figs. It’s a beautiful tree. All kinds of birds & other critters come when it fruits

[Ophidia_Lore]

Glad to see this being talked about here. Parasitoid wasps are a, very weird branch of the Animalia tree. Hoping this gets people interested in learning more about this branch of hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps). Fun fact, those wasps you mentioned breifly are Parasitoid, not true parasites! its weird distinction, but it helps to find them if you want to find them. Good work as always

[ZombieWilfred]

I actually found one inside a fig when I was young before I knew about this and thought "that's weird, creepy, and kinda gross, " but I just assumed it was some kind of bug that died eating into the fig, picked it out, and ate the rest of the fig. I guess that makes me one of the few people who was actually relieved when they found out it's totally normal for there to be dead wasps inside of figs. 🙃😆