Figs eat wasps. I totally did not know that

[Undertoad]

So, it turns out that figs and wasps have this weird relationship.

The fig needs to be pollinated. The female wasp collects pollen. So the fig has evolved a perfect-sized hole for eggs, exactly where they need their pollen delivered, and this attracts the female wasps.

So the female wasp comes in, pollinates, and lays eggs. But the fig has not made the hole a proper size for the wasp, cos she breaks her antennae and wings off on the way in.

So she's got nothing else going on, and she dies.

At that point, for nourishment, the fig eats the wasp with its special fig enzymes.



The eggs hatch, the hatchlings mate right away. As if this whole thing wasn't gross enough, infant brother and sister wasps, going at it.

And then the males chew through the fig's skin, and then die. Right. Fuck once, then go to work your whole life, then die. That's the whole thing for them. The male wasps don't even have wings. But the job is, they make the holes in the skin, so the females can get out with their wings, to fly off, be assholes, and collect pollen...

And soon enough, the pollen-laden, pregnant females look for new perfect-sized places for their eggs...