# Evolution: did our guts wind up yummy for microflora like flowers sweet/colorful for bees?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-did-our-guts-wind-up-yummy-for-microflora-like-flowers-sweet-colorful-for-bees/745324>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 6, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-did-our-guts-wind-up-yummy-for-microflora-like-flowers-sweet-colorful-for-bees/745324 "2016-02-06T16:34:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-did-our-guts-wind-up-yummy-for-microflora-like-flowers-sweet-colorful-for-bees/745324/1 "2016-02-06T16:34:06Z")

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See query. Of course it’s about evolution of symbiosis as well–my mind is still blown from learning (here) about viruses and their sneaky ways of messing with their host.

And I’ve looked at (no time now to find/cite the Wiki) the extraordinary number and types of symbiosis classified.

The birds and bees indeed.

Unrelated: not sure if “like” is correct, but matches character limit, even with dropped “did” at end. For different thread…

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**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evolution-did-our-guts-wind-up-yummy-for-microflora-like-flowers-sweet-colorful-for-bees/745324/2 "2016-02-06T16:42:56Z")

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Possibly.

> **[When Gut Bacteria Hijack the Brain](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/06/gut-bacteria-on-the-brain/395918/)**
>
> Some researchers believe the microbiome plays a role in regulating how people think and feel.

> [@](#):
>
> This interconnection of bugs and brain seems credible, too, from an evolutionary perspective. After all, bacteria have lived inside humans for millions of years. Cryan suggests that over time, at least a few microbes have developed ways to shape their hosts’ behavior for their own ends. Modifying mood is a plausible microbial survival strategy, he argues that “happy people tend to be more social. And the more social we are, the more chances the microbes have to exchange and spread.”