Author Topic: The Curious Case of the Avocado, Which Should Be Extinct But Still Exists  (Read 1102 times)

jcaldeira

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This article linked below introduces a book titled The Ghosts of Evolution: Nonsensical Fruit, Missing Partners, and Other Ecological Anachronisms.  The book seems interesting, has good reviews, and is now on my Amazon wish list.  Has anyone read it?

http://www.brainpickings.org/2013/12/04/avocado-ghosts-of-evolution/

Excerpt:
"avocados coevolved with ground sloths and were originally eaten by gomphothere — elephant-like creatures that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene, between 12 million and 1.6 million years ago, who happily reaped the fruit with their hefty trunks, crunched them with their massive teeth, and passed the seeds comfortably through their oversized digestive tract.

"Avocado’s strategy for propagation made a great deal of sense throughout the long life of its lineage — until the present moment. Even after thirteen thousand years, avocado is clueless that the great mammals are gone. For the avocado, gomphothere and ground sloths are still real possibilities. Pulp thieves like us reap the benefits. Homo Sapiens will continue to mold the traits of the few species of genus Persea it prefers. Ultimately, however, wild breeds will devolve less grandiose fruits, or else follow their animal partners into extinction."


Related video:
http://youtu.be/ZWW5OuxlKec
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