Humans are not alone in their love of fruit. Many fruits, especially berries, are not particularly desired by their parent plant for human consumption.

Deadly Nightshade is one example of a fruit that contains toxins that are not friendly to humans. However the berries are enjoyed by certain birds, who are not negatively affected by the Nightshade toxins.

I tend to think that the birds will be more effective dispersers of some small seeds and that the plant prefers them as distributors, rather than larger mammals.

The plant may then survive better if its fruit is poisonous to mammals.

One of the great joys of life, for me, is watching birds and animals enjoy fruits. Sharing with them is lovely too.

The cat we live with loves his avocado and always shares with me, he even tries to bat the avocado from my hand if I am not sharing quickly enough for him. The magpies like to come and share fruit with us too. They are so trusting when they hop up close and eyeball you.

I always think fruit taste so much nicer, when it is shared.

Like humans other animals play a huge role in the spreading of fruit seeds. Fruitbats are also responsible for pollenating many fruit species, including the mighty Durian.

I am intrigued that when we leave avocado on our outside deck, for our visiting Possum; she leaves all the skin behind (complete with really cute nibble marks right next to the skin). However the stone dissapears. Well she could not have rolled it over the edge of the deck as there is a 5 inch wooden border round the deck (to stop the cat rolling off!).

I look for the seed, but cannot see it any where. I doubt she has a mouth or throat big enough to swallow it, judging by her dainty bite marks on the skin.

So what happened to the seed?

Did she throw it away, carry it with her, play with it?

I guess that she could have eaten it all, little by little.

Fruit eating therefore is a very symbiotic relationship between animals and plants. They both benefit; neither one gains to the other's detriment.

The animal gets fed...the seeds get spread....the fruit grows....the animal gets fed...the seeds get spread... and so on.

All this has been happily carrying on for millions of years.

How recent is the farming of animals or the growing of vast fields of cereals. How do either of these benefit plants or other animals?

I feel that humans may have lost sight of the fact that we are only one small cog in the vast workings of the world. We have done our best to throw several spanners into the works. The world was very much in balance thousands of years ago. A balanced planet is generally a happy one.

But when one species tends to put itself in a position of domination, rather than symbiosis, then there will be huge environmental and spiritual imbalances.

A fruit diet can help rebalance our planet. Especially if one eats wild or organically grown fruit. Also fruit growing , the spreading of fruit seeds and the composting of fruit scraps are all vital rebalancers.

We Love Fruit....We Love Our Planet.

Let there be Love and Fruit sharing and Fruit growing ; all working towards a re-balancing of our planet.

Love and Peace,

from Anne XX.

To go to the Home page please click the 'Home' link. Thank You.

Home Page.