When you find fruit in the forest, what color do you imagine? You might think of bright colors like red, yellow, green, or purple. But fruit colors are not only beautiful to human eyes. In fact, fruit colors have evolved to match the vision of animals living in the forest.
Fruits can increase their offspring by being eaten by animals and having their seeds carried. However, animals do not see colors the same way. Primates have color vision that can distinguish between red and green, but many mammals are color-blind and see red and green as the same. Therefore, fruits have changed their colors to appeal to the animals they want to eat them, according to the animal’s vision.
This phenomenon was revealed by studies in national parks in Uganda and Madagascar. In Bwindi National Park in Uganda, fruits are colored red and green, attracting color-visioned primates. On the other hand, in Ranomafana National Park in Madagascar, fruits are not red or green, but blue or yellow, matching the color-blind lemurs.
In these national parks, the interaction between fruits and animals is an important element for maintaining ecosystem harmony. Fruits provide nutrition to animals, and animals help fruits disperse seeds. Fruits also affect animal behavior and distribution. For example, lemurs become more social when fruits are abundant. Lemurs also move to other areas when fruits are scarce.
Forest fruits and animals coexist while influencing each other. However, this relationship is threatened by human activities. If the forest is destroyed by illegal logging or poaching, both fruits and animals will decrease. As a result, the entire ecosystem could collapse.
We need to respect and protect the relationship between forest fruits and animals. To do so, we can follow the rules when visiting national parks, donate to conservation organizations, and learn about the beauty and diversity of the forest. Below, we introduce some of the attractive fruits and animals that can be seen in national parks in Uganda and Madagascar.
Bwindi National Park in Uganda
Bwindi National Park in Uganda is a national park established in 1991 and registered as a World Natural Heritage Site in 1994. It is famous for its 340 or so mountain gorillas. This number accounts for about half of the world’s mountain gorillas, which are endangered. In this park, you can see three groups of mountain gorillas that are accustomed to humans by trekking.
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Mountain gorillas love to eat fruits, especially red ones. In this park, there are many plants that bear red fruits. For example, Ficus plants of the Moraceae family produce red fig-like fruits. Rosa plants of the Rosaceae family produce red rose hips. These fruits are popular not only with mountain gorillas but also with other primates and birds.
Ranomafana National Park in Madagascar
Ranomafana National Park in Madagascar is a national park established in 1986 and registered as a World Natural Heritage Site in 2007. It is famous for the discovery of a new species of lemur called golden bamboo lemur (golden gentle lemur). This lemur has golden fur and a white tail and is very beautiful.
Lemurs love fruits, especially blue or yellow ones. In this park, there are many plants that bear blue or yellow fruits. For example, Passiflora plants of the Passifloraceae family produce blue or purple passion fruits. Musa plants of the Musaceae family produce yellow or green bananas. These fruits are popular not only with lemurs but also with other animals and humans.
Summary
We learned that fruit colors evolve to match animal vision. This is a symbiotic relationship where fruits and animals benefit each other. However, this relationship is endangered by human activities. We need to respect and protect the relationship between forest fruits and animals. To do so, we can follow the rules when visiting national parks, donate to conservation organizations, and learn about the beauty and diversity of the forest. In this article, we introduced some of the attractive fruits and animals that can be seen in national parks in Uganda and Madagascar, but there are many more types. Please visit them yourself.
