Most commercially and home grown produced figs are self-pollinating, only a few wild fig species require wasps to pollinate them. So most people will only ever see wasp-free figs.
spoopy figs
Submitted 2 weeks ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/c87b375d-5849-42f3-8694-d4c98474a37d.jpeg
Comments
ViatorOmnium@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Oh thank god.
I know commercial farming is usually terrible, but this bit just seems like a win
polydactyl@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Mostly it’s commercial animal farming that is heinously immoral. The big problems with commercial crop farming is the change to landscape (and therefore ecosystem) and reduction of native species and diversity due to farming of one specific species. These can be mitigated (if humans cared), obviously the animal farming problems too, but the animal cruelty is way more evil, and harder to fix institutionally.
I’m pretty sure about these things, but I am not an expert on these specific matters. Never trust some rando as a source. Always do your own research. And even then be careful…… we live in some weird ass times
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
How can people not believe in basic evolution when we have created self-pollinating figs
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Though i once saw a bug crawl out of a ripe fig.
wibble@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Better than finding half a bug in the fig after your first mouthful
Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
It was a hell of a surprise when I cut open a peach and the pit was smaller and softer than usual and it split in two in my hands and a little slightly drowsy looking winged ant crawled out of one of the halves and started walking around on the counter. Little guy must have had such a long journey. I don’t know how the hell they got INSIDE the pit.
flora_explora@beehaw.org 2 weeks ago
I don’t think that’s true. Apparently even Aristotle has spoken about fig wasps (without really understanding what they are or do of course). And it seems like all fig trees are dependent on this kind of pollination.
ranzispa@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
I used to have some fig trees, I’d always have to be careful around them as they’d be full of wasps.
CIA_chatbot@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This is why fig newtons taste like delicious hate
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
I use them when I need to channel the ghosts of 1000 angry wasps.
moody@lemmings.world 2 weeks ago
No, that’s just the sugar. Someone decided figs weren’t sweet enough and that they should add sugar to them.
HypnoticSheep@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
hey I think you might be allergic to fig newtons
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Ah btw, ground coffe literally has bugs in it.
moseschrute@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
When do the bugs enter the coffee, and does me grinding my own coffee change anything?
Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Its specifically cockroaches they are talking about and ground coffee. If you grind your own beans and don’t see any cockroaches or bugs, then your coffee is roach free.
Humans get allergies to cockroaches really easy. Living in cockroach infested areas will eventually create allergies, people who handle cocraches get allergies, it’s not a question of if it’s a question of when.
So if you have developed cockroach allergies you risk going into anaphylactic shock if you go anywhere where ground coffee is in the air like a gas station or coffee shop. If you aren’t griding your own beans, there is some roach in your bean soup.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I forgot some details, but there were articles about it years ago, can just google it. And as far as i remember, bean coffee (self-ground or automat) has way less bugs.
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Yum!
blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Can vegans eat figs?
ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Most vegans do. The general idea is to avoid exploiting animals, but the wasps are living out their natural life cycle.
tidderuuf@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Vegans eat other foods that use fertilizer. Fertilizers could contain meat or meat byproducts… So…
username_1@programming.dev 2 weeks ago
Fertilizers could contain meat
Can you provide an example? Sounds strange. Too expensive.
BillyClark@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I think I heard recently that one of the mushrooms that is popular as a vegan meat substitute lives off of some sort of living creature like insects or something.
But realistically, it’s all the circle of life. Animal life is part of the circle. Probably all plants have consumed nutrients that came from an animal in some way.
affenlehrer@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Ethical vegans want to avoid suffering. If figs cause suffering is a philosophical question.
baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
ffs they won’t eat honey, and that’s only because you’re stealing the fruits of the bees’ labor. I would assume the International Vegan Council outright bans figs with extreme prejudice.
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
they won’t eat honey, and that’s only because you’re stealing the fruits of the bees’ labor
Not the only reason. For example, an infamous and common practice in the honey industry is to cut off the queen’s wings, ensuring the hive has no choice but to stay there and produce honey.
I’ve never met a vegan who won’t eat figs; their relationship with fig wasps is symbiotic, and yes, excluding fruit on the basis that “eating the fruit of a pollinated plant is exploiting the pollinator” probably far oversteps the “practicable” part of veganism:
Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.
mathemachristian@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
This is more in the “dead worms in the compost make their way into the vegetables we eat” wheelhouse than in the “lets steal these animals labor for their young, risking death and injury to the workers while doing so” wheelhouse
Flyberius@hexbear.net 2 weeks ago
It’s not these figs.
m0darn@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
I had a friend that didn’t eat figs for this reason.
reallykindasorta@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Yeah I have a coworker who avoids certain varieties (many varieties don’t include wasps in the normal lifecycle)
Grass@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
not if they have trypophobia
flora_explora@beehaw.org 2 weeks ago
Yeah sure I’ll eat figs. You don’t eat the fig wasps as they have been eaten by the fig already. If I knew there was a fig wasp still inside, I wouldn’t eat it though.
mathemachristian@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
yeah
Arachnidbrilliant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
TIL figs aren’t vegan
TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I’m a vegan, although not super strict. But I knew some terror vegans who do not consider vigs vegan.
The definition of “vegan” differs. Like, I don’t like products that had a nervous system. So technically I could eat oysters. But some vegans consider oranges not to be vegan because there might be an animal product in the pesticides used on oranges. Some claim they only use plant based products, but they get mad when I ask them about fungi, as their cell structure looks more like an animal cell than a plant cell.
Being vegan means you buy products which fit your idea of being vegan.
And sadly for some it means you need to be a fucking asshole to anyone you meet.
flying_sheep@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Regarding your last paragraph: that’s unrelated. There are also lots of insufferably vocal meat eaters who feel personally attacked when someone else doesn’t religiously stuff themselves with meat every meal.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
But do they realize all atoms eventually cycle through the ecosystem?
I’m sure all carbon atoms were part of animal at some point. I guess your fake vegans are just molecular vegans and not atomic vegans.
Arachnidbrilliant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I’m just saying this specific fruit has a literal animal inside of it
Fedizen@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Idk isn’t that like saying all animal pollinated plants are not vegan?
Arachnidbrilliant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Well, this one’s got a literal animal inside of it… Is all I’m saying
Arachnidbrilliant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I’m a level five vegan. I don’t eat anything that Casts a shadow
mathemachristian@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
They are most fruit require insect pollination, as long there is no forced labor or murder it’s still vegan
Manticore@lemmy.nz 2 weeks ago
Depends on the vegan you’re talking to.
Wild figs may be but as soon as you’re cultivating fig varieties that require the fig wasp, you are artificially increasing the wasp population specifically to perish, in order to sustain human horticulture. Much like honey or milk, the fact you don’t eat the animal’s flesh might still defy the spirit of ‘no animal exploitation’. Most pollinators do not explicitly perish as part of pollination; figs are one of the foods vegans may disagree on.
The good news is that there are a small number of fig varieties that can be fertilised without the wasp (either by hand, or self-pollinating clones). In a lot of countries this is the variety that may be grown because importing wasps could be ecologically dangerous.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So vegans could eat unemployed animals that die of natural causes?
Arachnidbrilliant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I agree with you, but this fruit has a literal animal inside of it
jeffep@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Wait until you find out what fossil fuels are made of
brown567@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Mostly plants and plankton?
Are zooplankton vegan?
zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
This post is informative, horrifying, and indeed very, very spoopy.
58008@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Would this render figs off limits for vegans and vegetarians? 🤔
Raiderkev@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
No wonder God hates figs
Nangijala@feddit.dk 2 weeks ago
And the bitter pistachio nuts are bitter because you’re eating a dead worm that died inside the nut.
Always, always, always double check the pistachio before you eat it. Learned it the hard way and have spread the word ever since. People’s reactions are always the same chock horror expression when they realize what the bitter pistachios really are.
Lighttrails@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
BIG FIG WASP
Ghostie@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Great. My stomach is now haunted by wasp ghosts.
ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
So that’s why god hates figs
definitely_AI@feddit.online 2 weeks ago
I thought for sure this was a joke.
It isn’t.
This happens.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The only way to get food that doesn’t contain bugs and rat shit is to grow it indoors, in virtually hermetically sealed rooms.
Also, the more processed your food, the more material you don’t want it contains. Which is why I’m surprised that so many vegans are on the fake meat bandwagon. The fact that they eat so much processed food clearly shows the claim that they’re doing it for health is poorly thought out.
deacon@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
This actually explains the infamous Fig Newton Debacle of ‘92, which my extended family is still divided over.
laranis@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
False. Wasps don’t have souls.
Hornets on the other hand… I’ll see you in hell.
Gork@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
Ew tryptophobia.
Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Haha yes… Die trash.
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 2 weeks ago
Dibs on wasp ghosts as my post hardcore band name!
RevolverSly@fedinsfw.app 2 weeks ago
So, figs are not vegan?
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
FYI they are very fucking small nowhere near as big as in this image. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_wasp
Image
definitely_AI@feddit.online 2 weeks ago
Nature is so fucking WEEEEIRD
denaggels@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Actually it’s not. This is 100% human fault. Fig trees and fig wasps from the same (natural) area do not have this problem. When (I believe California?) imported a ton of trees and wasps to cultivate giant fig farms, they just didn’t care that the wasps they got would die during pollination. It was a known issue, that just got ignored. Completely preventable.
Prontomomo@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
If you look at the detail in the ghosty wasp, it’s clear that it’s just an edited image of a wasp pasted onto a fig
Jestzer@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I wonder where they got that image from…
The first result for a fig wasp in a search engine? Nah, that’d be too obvious!
SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I went and looked that up on my own and I could’ve just clicked into the comments?!
unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 2 weeks ago
When i came to the post there were no comments to quell my worries so i had to check and share what i found :D
ignotum@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah when they’re alive, but everyone knows you grow larger when you become a ghost
Smoogs@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yes however it’s a ghost wasp. It can take whatever phantom size it damn well pleases
wizzim@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
This is interesting. Regarding a sentence:
Does it mean the figs cannot mature without the wasp ? Does it mean that each ripe fig has been visited by a wasp ?
flora_explora@beehaw.org 2 weeks ago
Yes exactly. They are both dependent on each other in that way.
And to add on to that, figs are super important food trees in the tropics, because they are the only trees that produce fruits all year around. (Because they have to, otherwise the fig wasp population couldn’t sustain itself.) So many animal species are also dependent on the steady food source of fig trees (btw most look very different from the common fig tree, Ficus carica).
SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I mean, fruit with seeds is formed from a flower after pollination. It’s just that on the figs, the flower is apparently inside the unripe fruit.
SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not much of a life. Larvae can already be argued to be the main stage of life in many insects, as they get to chill around and munch on plants for ages, while adults have to fly somewhere, shag, lay eggs and croak. With these wasps, the adult male has it even more straightforward, and the female seems to not even get to enjoy the larval stage.
Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard told me they were big though
kinggizzard.bandcamp.com/track/big-fig-wasp
SilverFlame@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
What a cool band, I was the orchestra manager on their first stop of their Phantom Island Tour. Their drummer is a force of nature