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spoopy figs (thelemmy.club)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] 59 points 6 months ago (9 children)

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.

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  • [–] 11 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Oh thank god.

    I know commercial farming is usually terrible, but this bit just seems like a win

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months 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

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago* (2 children)

    Apart from the cultivar part, 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). So maybe there are some cultivars that are self a pollinating now, but it seems like all non-cultivated fig trees are dependent on this kind of pollination. And btw, there aren't a "few" wild species, there are over 850 of them!!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_coevolution_in_Ficus?wprov=sfla1

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (1 child)

    I used to have some fig trees, I'd always have to be careful around them as they'd be full of wasps.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago*

    Oh, you're thinking of wasps like yellowjackets. "Fig wasp" uses the taxonomic term for wasp. There are hundreds of thousands of parasitic wasp species out there that most people aren't familiar with. Fig wasps are gall wasps and are really tiny! Like so small you can hardly see them by the naked eye. It is fascinating how so small beings can fly distances of many kilometers when they are only a millimeter in size.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago* (2 children)

    Though i once saw a bug crawl out of a ripe fig, just as i was about to eat it.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months 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.

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