National Geographic: Panama Wild - Rain Forest of Life Page #2
- Year:
- 1996
- 1,705 Views
BCI has a long dry season.
Food is now becoming scarce.
Even coatis,
who will eat just about anything
are hard pressed to
fill their bellies.
They gather under the majestic
dipteryx, waiting.
Now, when they need it most,
the tree will bear its fruit.
For dipteryx this is the beginning
of the long struggle to reproduce.
Howler monkeys gather in its crown.
Here is a banquet that will
stave off hunger for many.
The timing is crucial.
By fruiting during the dry season,
the dipteryx guarantees that
many will gather for the feast.
Oddly enough, the tree wants
its fruit to be eaten
even though each fruit contains
a seed
the next generation.
But why?
All these capuchin monkeys know
is that food is nearly at hand.
And if enough of them arrive,
from this nutritious meal.
What scientists have discovered
is the fruit is actually
an expensive bribe.
If animals take it,
they may carry the seed locked
inside far from the parent tree.
The further away the seed gets,
the better its chance of surviving.
around them,
afford to be finicky eaters.
Once they've had the ripest bit,
they simply drop the fruit
and move on to the next.
But this rain of half-eaten fruit
is of no help to the tree in
its quest to reproduce.
Its seedlings have little luck
of thriving here
in the shadow of the parent's crown.
Still for the animals waiting below,
it's manna from heaven.
The coatis eat only the sweet flesh,
they leave the seed intact.
But others are waiting in the wings.
Once the coatis have relieved
their hunger,
agoutis gingerly join the feast.
Agoutis are rodents;
they have teeth
and jaws designed to gnaw right
through the tough shell
and devour the seed within.
Squirrels, too,
relish the giant seeds.
Instead of creating
new dipteryx trees,
of hungry visitors...
...even peccaries.
Satiated, the coatis settle
into some mutual grooming.
In evening's golden light,
butterflies and ants gorge upon
the remains of the feast.
It's been a good day for
all the animals,
but bad for the lordly dipteryx.
where they would have fallen away;
nothing has carried them away.
Has the tree's survival
strategy failed?
Is the next generation lost?
Is there no help under the sun
for the dipteryx?
Perhaps the moon can shed some light
on the mystery of the dipteryx.
Tropical nights weave
their own magic
of characters.
Everywhere, there are bats,
conjured out of the dark.
Among the branches hunts
a marsupial, a marmosa.
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