World ’s most controversial fruit depends on giant bats for pollination

While we debate whether the durian is the best or worst food on the planet, it turns out this wonderful oddity requires healthy populations of flying fox for survivalDurian. Depending on whom you talk to it ’s either the most beloved or the most despised fruit on the planet. It suffers no moderation, no wishy-washiness. It is the king of fruits or the worst thing you’ve ever tasted. Due to its potent odour – delicate and sweet to its advocates and sewage-like to its detractors – durian has been banned from airplanes, subways, and hotels (though punishments appear light if non-existent). But arecent study inEcology and Evolution finds there may be no durians at all without bats: big, threatened bats. The scientists found that flying foxes – bats in thePteropus andAcerodon genus and the largest in the world – are likely vital pollinators for the polarising durian.“We already knew that flying foxes feed on durian flowers, but there was this unsubstantiated belief, even among some researchers, that flying foxes just destroyed the flowers,” said Sheema Abdul Aziz, the lead researcher on the project that was done as part of her PhD at the Muséum National d’ Histoire Naturelle in France. “It doesn’t help that a durian flower only blooms for one night, then falls off the tree naturally, regardless of whether it’s been pollinated or not. When people see all the flowers on the ground in the morning, they think it’s the bats.”Continue reading...

Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - February 19, 2018 Category: Science Authors: Jeremy Hance Tags: Environment Asia Pacific Malaysia World news Wildlife Biology Science Conservation Animal behaviour Animals South and Central Asia Source Type: news