I thought those were fish?
If it helps, you can think of it this way: Ripe fruits tend to be sweeter than unripe fruits. Things that are sweet are generally considered culinarily “fruits”, while things that are not sweet are not generally considered culinary “fruits”. So we call a green bean a “vegetable” because it’s not ripe when eaten, and we call an apple a “fruit” because it is ripe when eaten.
I believe the ancestral forms are not brightly colored, but pale. They have been bred that way.
I thought most animals (that is, ground-based walkin’-around-type beasties) would smell when fruits were ripe long before they’d see 'em. Why would color make such a difference, unless it were to attract, say, birds?
Birds are major disseminators (sic) of fruit seeds.
Oh, I know they are; I was wondering about his use of the word “animals.”
Birds are animals.
Birds are a subset of Animals. Animals are a subset of Beings With Feet. Beings With Feet is a subset of Creatures On Earth. So fruit has evolved to let its seeds be distributed by Creatures On Earth.
What I wanna know is, why’d he say animals (less specific) instead of birds (more specific)? Saying “animals” suggests there is a non-bird animal who locates fruit by color (not by smell), because most non-bird animals I can think of—save humans and our ilk—aren’t known for their color vision and poor senses of smell.
snakes aren’t animals?
Sheesh, everybody’s a comedian. Snakes have detatchable feet. They’re an aftermarket option. You know, like spoilers or mag wheels.
I said animals in part because I live in the tropics, and one of the main dispersers of fruits here, besides birds, is monkeys. Monkeys, like us, see color well but have a poor sense of smell.
Some other mammals, especially bats, are also fruit dispersers. Bats can’t see color (which would not be visible at night anyway). Many bat-dispersed fruits have a strong odor when ripe, but remain green.