Lemurs Provide Clues About How Fruit Scents Evolved

October 3, 2018btollesonRSS Sample

Red-bellied lemurs in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar. Researchers who observed nine of the animals there could clearly see them sniffing fruit and deciding whether to eat it based on how it smelled.

Researchers tested what kind of information the animals are able to discern from scent about whether a fruit is ripe. There’s evidence that some fruits evolved to better signal ripeness to lemurs.

(Image credit: N. Rowe & Centre ValBio)