Do you recognize
this picture? A devil’s head with horns?
No. In fact
it is a close-up picture of a seed. What look like horns are actually hooks.
You might
wonder what hooks are doing on a seed! These hooks allow the seed th stick to
the fur of an animal. When the animal moves from one place to another, it
carries the seed along with it. When the seed falls off the animal to the
ground, it has travelled a large distance from the parent plant. Like other
modes of seed dispersal, animal dispersal of seeds also helps plants to colonize
new habitats.
This is just
one mode of seed dispersal. A more common mode of animal dispersal of seeds is
through animal droppings. Generally frugivores i.e. fruit eating animals
consume the seed of the fruit with their fruit meal. They are unable to digest
the seed, which is then thrown out of their body through the droppings, at a
new location where the animal has reached. This seed germinates where it falls,
giving rise to a new plant.
Some animal
dispersed seeds are covered with a slimy substance which helps them to stick to
the bodies of birds. The birds fly over large distances and carry the seeds along
with them.
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