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How plants hitchhike on animal poo | Kew
From plants to poo, Kew Research Fellow Dr Si-Chong Chen reveals how seeds use animals as their free ride for dispersal…
Plants to poo
One of the significant ways that animals disperse plant seeds is by eating and pooing them out.
Certain plant species, including many trees, enclose their seeds inside fleshy edible fruits that are appealing to hungry animals.
These fruit-loving animals are called frugivores.
‘Fleshy fruits are usually dispersed by animal ingestion,’ Kew Research Fellow Dr Si-Chong Chen says. ‘Animals gulp down the fruits without chewing the seeds, digest the fleshy pulp and defecate the seeds.’
This ingestion process of dispersal is known as endozoochory.