Each of the over 900 different kinds of
fig trees in the world is
pollinated by its own specific kind of
fig wasp. Fig tree
flowers do not open to
the outside world. Instead, the
tiny flowers are located inside
the hollow center of the growing
fruit. In
a complex process, the fig wasps
develop within the fig (from
eggs previously
deposited by an
adult female fig wasp),
pollinate the flowers, and then
exit from the fig, usually before it
ripens and
falls to the
ground.
In the
tree or on the ground the fig fruits are
eaten by many animals, including
birds,
bats,
monkeys, and animals living on the
forest floor. These animals help
scatter the fig
seeds to other
locations in the
forest. Thus, while
accomplishing its own
reproduction, the fig tree also enables
successful reproduction by the fig wasp, and provides
food for many
animals of the forest.
Fig wasp
larvae somehow prevent the fig from
ripening, thus
increasing the likelihood of their survival (
i.e. they
mature to
adult wasps and
escape from the fig before it ripens and is eaten by some animal). But even inside the fig they are not totally
safe! There is still another kind of wasp (the "fig wasp"
parasitic wasp) that
drills a
small hole into the fig and deposits her egg near a developing fig wasp
larva; the larva
hatching from the egg survives by eating the fig wasp larva.