Lemurs Provide Clues About How Fruit Scents Evolved
Researchers tested what kind of information the animal is able to discern from scent about whether a fruit is ripe. There's evidence that some fruits evolved to better signal ripeness to lemurs.
As a researcher looks on, a lemur takes a long whiff of a fruit growing on a tree in an eastern Madagascar rainforest. It passes the animal's test. The lemur takes a bite.
Seconds later it sniffs at another fruit on the same tree. This time, it's not interested.
A group of researchers set out to test what kind of information the animal is able to discern from scent about whether a fruit is ripe. In a paper published, they argue that fruit plants can evolve to signal to animals that it is ripe, using their scent.
