# Coconuts and migration!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 12, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945 "2018-06-12T04:47:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/1 "2018-06-12T04:47:54Z")
The lil’wrekker made a statement that coconuts migrated to other lands by floating on the ocean. Island hopping, as it were. Needless to say, we roared with laughter at the very idea. Now I am second guessing. Could this have really happened?
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/2 "2018-06-12T04:50:49Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> The lil’wrekker made a statement that coconuts migrated to other lands by floating on the ocean. Island hopping, as it were. Needless to say, we roared with laughter at the very idea. Now I am second guessing. Could this have really happened?
Um, yeah.
Why would this concept be so preposterous?
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### Author:  [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/3 "2018-06-12T04:55:03Z")
Because they’re carried by swallows.
Deeeuuuurrr.
But srsly…why wouldn’t that be a perfectly reasonable explanation? Even not having that knowledge beforehand, I would think many thoughtful people’s reaction would be “Huh…never considered that. I suppose I should either accept that information or perhaps do some research on my own,” rather than roaring with laughter.
ETA how old is “lil’wrekker?”
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/4 "2018-06-12T05:23:25Z")
She’s 18. I would have never thought it could be true. I can see, maybe people migrating and carrying coconuts island to island. Well I never…
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/5 "2018-06-12T05:52:14Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> She’s 18. I would have never thought it could be true. I can see, maybe people migrating and carrying coconuts island to island. Well I never…
Coconuts (and birds, animals, bugs, plants and various other life-forms) migrate much easier than peeps who need a boat, and often have to face Customs Officers at the other end.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/6 "2018-06-12T06:17:50Z")
Coconuts float. How far they can travel and for how long and still germinate is open to question, but clearly it is hundreds of miles over a period of weeks, and that without the aid of storms or vegetation rafts believed to carry animals form continent to continent. OTOH the coconut is too heavy to become airborne and unlikely to be carried far by any animal other than humans, so their presence inland must be due to human transportation.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/7 "2018-06-12T06:21:10Z")
I meant indigenous peoples on islands in the SouthSeas in out-rigger canoes and the like. I didn’t mean ocean liners and travelers.
But do coconuts float on the waves and land on the next islands beach where it takes root and grows into a tree? Or not?
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/8 "2018-06-12T06:24:37Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> I meant indigenous peoples on islands in the SouthSeas in out-rigger canoes and the like. I didn’t mean ocean liners and travelers.
> But do coconuts float on the waves and land on the next islands beach where it takes root and grows into a tree? Or not?
Yes, they do. The only question is how far apart the islands can be.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/9 "2018-06-12T06:57:13Z")
This is just so interesting to me. Thanks for your responses. I will relay these to the lil’wrekker. With an apology from her dear old Mom.🙂
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### Author:  [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/10 "2018-06-12T07:30:27Z")
You even get crabs that hitch lifts on floating coconuts.
> **[Coconut crab](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_crab)**
>
> The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is a species of terrestrial hermit crab, also known as the robber crab or palm thief. It is the largest terrestrial arthropod in the world, with a weight of up to 4.1 kg (9 lb). It can grow to up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) in width from the tip of one leg to the tip of another. It is found on islands across the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific Ocean as far east as the Gambier Islands, Pitcairn Islands and Caroline Island, similar to the distribution of the coconut...
Well their larvae do, I thought the adults did but faulty memory.
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/11 "2018-06-12T07:51:38Z")
I like how the first two posts of this thread basically call the OP a dumbass and “not-thoughtful” and don’t answer the question.
Welcome to the dope! Where people would rather call you a dipshit than answer the question.
Gee, I wonder why their is declining membership on that dope.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/12 "2018-06-12T10:38:07Z")
It is kind of weird that someone would find the concept so outrageous. But you know what they say, born a spore, [diaspore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_seed).
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/13 "2018-06-12T12:05:39Z")
I didn’t take it as being called a ‘dumbass’. Call me dense or whatever, I thought the question a perfectly reasonable query. I have never been near the South Seas. I have never read anything about floating coconuts propagating on islands far away. So, ok. Maybe it was a preposterous question, but if you don’t know you don’t know. The way to find out is to ask questions. We did a cursory Google search with no results. So there you have it.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/14 "2018-06-12T12:11:32Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#):
>
> I didn’t take it as being called a ‘dumbass’. Call me dense or whatever, I thought the question a perfectly reasonable query. I have never been near the South Seas. I have never read anything about floating coconuts propagating on islands far away. So, ok. Maybe it was a preposterous question, but if you don’t know you don’t know. The way to find out is to ask questions. We did a cursory Google search with no results. So there you have it.
I can sort of understand that. I’d assume you could have interpolated the correct conclusion from information you already knew, but the data points are far apart if you didn’t know that coconuts float, and it could have seemed like a leap to you from what information you did have.
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/15 "2018-06-12T12:14:18Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#):
>
> I like how the first two posts of this thread basically call the OP a dumbass and “not-thoughtful” and don’t answer the question.
>
> Welcome to the dope! Where people would rather call you a dipshit than answer the question.
>
> Gee, I wonder why their is declining membership on that dope.
Get away with you, no-one called the OP a “dispshit” it was the mildest of teasing when you consider that it was about finding the idea of floating coconuts ridiculous.
You are overreacting.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/16 "2018-06-12T12:32:34Z")
There is also [this](https://www.popsci.com/sweet-potatoes-archaeology) recent study on sweet potatoes, BTW.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/17 "2018-06-12T13:16:50Z")
Every plant species needs some mechanism for spreading. And when your natural habitat is a large number of small islands, you specifically need a mechanism for spreading across oceans.
Doubtless a lot of the spread of coconuts nowadays is due to humans deliberately planting them, but what would they have done before humans? I suppose that they might have existed on only one island before being discovered by humans, but living on only one island is not a recipe for long-term survival.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/18 "2018-06-12T13:21:19Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> There is also [this](https://www.popsci.com/sweet-potatoes-archaeology) recent study on sweet potatoes, BTW.
I love a good archaeologist fight. One guy gets the rock, the other guy gets the pointy stick. Twenty quatloos on the pointy stick.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/19 "2018-06-12T14:29:22Z")
> [@Delicious](#):
>
> You even get crabs that hitch lifts on floating coconuts.
They’re big, but I wouldn’t call them coconuts.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2018, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coconuts-and-migration/815945/20 "2018-06-12T17:24:37Z")
Dude, did you just say that?🙂
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