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

Spicy plants specifically want *birds* to spread their seeds, not mammals. The chemical that makes their fruit taste “hot” to mammals, has no effect on birds.

Their seeds are robust enough to pass through a bird’s digestive system and still germinate on the other side. But mammals’ digestive systems are too harsh for that. So the plant makes the pepper to attract the bird, with a taste that discourages the mammal.