Eli5: why do chilli plants turn red to attract animals to disperse seeds but also produce the spicy chemical to put them off?

Question

Eli5: why do chilli plants turn red to attract animals to disperse seeds but also produce the spicy chemical to put them off?

In: 6541

Answer 1

Actually the red doesn’t really attract mammals, who can’t distinguish red well, except some primates, like humans and a few others.

We evolved to distinguish red to find ripe fruit, whereas for other mammals its not really outstanding.

So the red is used because:

– birds see it

– irrelevant for mammals. Note: peppers are a bit small for big primates anyway

The hot is used to:

– punish inconvenient mammals

– neutral to birds

So its perfectly made to attract birds and avoid mammals.

Working as intended.

Until man came along, and both liked the color and the hot, so the plant got a really good and very unexpected boost to its spread.