If evolving to bear good tasting fruit meant being able to spread seeds through animals and birds, why did some plants develop bad tasting fruit like chili and lemon?

Question

If evolving to bear good tasting fruit meant being able to spread seeds through animals and birds, why did some plants develop bad tasting fruit like chili and lemon?

In: 3

Answer 1

Lemons are a very sweet fruit, despite the sourness. Animals have different taste receptors. Some fruits, like chillies, have evolved to have capsaicin in order to stop ground-dwellers from eating them, whilst birds are unaffected and can eat the fruit and spread the seeds much further.