A maniac tree catches birds: why does it do this? (5 photos)

We will talk about a unique case: this plant catches prey, but does not eat it! It turns out that he is just a maniac who kills for pleasure? Of course not.





So, meet the great Pisonia grandis, a tree growing mainly on the atolls of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, a relative of the bouguevillea, famous in horticulture.

This tree can grow to impressive sizes, and its spreading crown provides an excellent nesting site for seabirds. True, in return for the housing provided, this tree takes the lives of many inhabitants of the bird colony.



Pisonia blooms with small, fragrant flowers, which then turn into small clubs, from which incredibly sticky, glue-like juice emerges.

Its composition is so viscous that in English this tree is called the devil's jaws, apparently because it is devilishly difficult to get rid of stuck fruits.





Therefore, some birds simply die crouching near the fruits. They stick around the bird so that it can’t even fly. The victims are mainly sea terns, which find it especially difficult to dive into the water while being wrapped from head to toe in sticky seeds.

Scientists are puzzled why the tree does this, since the “dispersal” version is not suitable, because the bird dies before flying far, or sits down on the sea water to rest and the seeds die. This is complete nonsense.



Evolution doesn't work that way. If there is an adaptation (sticky seeds that kill birds) and the species thrives, then the adaptation works. Yes, some bird is destroying seeds in sea water. Yes, some bird, completely covered with seeds, cannot fly far and dies next to the tree.

True, the birds managed to “take revenge” on their treacherous landlord. During the year of existence of tern colonies, a large amount of compressed droppings accumulated under the trees. And on the atoll you won’t get much of the black soil. Therefore, residents of atolls often cut down Pisonia forests in order to freely collect valuable fertilizer for themselves, sometimes multiplying Pisonia by zero on individual islands...

Accordingly, with the disappearance of pisonia, birds also disappear, and droppings stop accumulating. But what does this smartest “crown of nature” care about?