# peppers spreading their seeds

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peppers-spreading-their-seeds/10255>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 12, 2000, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peppers-spreading-their-seeds/10255 "2000-04-12T22:11:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peppers-spreading-their-seeds/10255/1 "2000-04-12T22:11:00Z")

</div>

ok, in grade school, we learned of ways plants propagated their species by spreading their seeds. fruits and nuts spread their seeds by tasting good, animals eat them, and the seeds fall out in a pile of dung that helps fertilize it. milkweed seeds float through the air, etc…

peppers. i think we’re the only animal that eats them due to their ‘hotness’. so how do they spread their seeds? or do peppers hope for a grove of pepper plants?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peppers-spreading-their-seeds/10255/2 "2000-04-12T22:28:00Z")

</div>

IIRC, birds are immune to the hotness of peppers and cheerfully eat them. As the owner of a car, I can testify to the ability of birds to spread their, uh, fecal products everywhere.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\
**Post date:** [April 12, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peppers-spreading-their-seeds/10255/3 "2000-04-12T23:39:00Z")

</div>

Yep. I’m pretty sure Random’s right (although you didn’t need ME to tell you that, right?). I also recall that’s the way that a lot of plant species were (and are) spread around, not just peppers.

* * *

Well, either you’re closing your eyes to a situation you do not wish to acknowledge or you are not aware of the power of the presence of a pool table in your community. Ya’ got trouble my friends! -  
Prof. Harold Hill  
Gary Conservatory  
Gold Medal Class  
'05

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peppers-spreading-their-seeds/10255/4 "2000-04-13T04:03:00Z")

</div>

Random and Garfield are both right. Cecil himself has said that birds are better distributors of seeds than are mammals, and that parrots like peppers. What I wonder about is mangoes. I can’t imagine any animal swallowing that giant seed. What’s their secret?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2000, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peppers-spreading-their-seeds/10255/5 "2000-04-13T12:50:00Z")

</div>

Greg–Re: mangoes. Animals don’t swallow the seed. The pick the fruit, eat the mango, and drop the seed. Voila!