I've not much time today for a post, so I thought I'd do a kind of 'did you know' quick post.

So yeah, Chili's, spicy buggers aren't they? Some more than others, but that's mostly due to human intervention.

That being said, WHY does it occur in nature? We all know the chemical and biological how (right?), but the why is a bit stranger and much more interesting to me.

Fruit or vegetable?

Yeah, that's a weird one, innit? Chile peppers are fruits! Fruits are essentially defined as stuff with seeds inside them, which chili peppers definitely have. So do cucumbers. And tomatoes. And pumpkins. FRUITS!

This opens things up a bit, because we typically think of fruits as sugary, sweet things eaten primarily by hummingbirds and ants. But the fact is, there are lots of fruits that aren't so sweet.

But spicy? What animal does spice attract?

How spice works

I'm getting to the big answer, hear me out.

Long story short, the active ingredient in spice - capsaicin - binds to some sensory receptors called VR1 receptors and gives us the illusion of heat - and it is just an illusion. But this affects animals too, enough to make them run, screaming if they attempt to eat one.

_capsaicin

And that's why peppers are spicy!

That doesn't make sense.

Yeah, because fruits WANT animals to eat them, that's the whole point in a fruit; to be eaten and have its seeds travel elsewhere and get pooped out. So what gives?

Well, enzymes in many big animals tend to break down the seeds before they get pooped out, which isn't very useful, and smaller animals like insects tend to chew it into pieces, also rendering a seed useless.

But one animal is the right size, doesn't chew, and is immune to spicy food. Any guesses?

No?

BIRDS!

Yep, Capsaicin does not bind to the VR1 receptors in birds, and so they cannot taste the heat that we suffer whatsoever. Birds can chomp away at California Reapers all day. This is a great advantage for chili peppers because birds can fly, and spread seeds way further than, say, mice.

It's an expensive adaptation, as far as evolution goes, but the gamble apparently paid off, because now humans have a kind of benign masochistic relationship with peppers and have managed to spread it all over the world to dominate us all.

But the birds are the true champs here, if you ask me.

_{Tasty, tasty, bland peppers. Heaven!}

Anyway, back to work for me!

Image Sources:

Capsaicin
Bird