Today, we will betalking about the fig wasps. They don’t look particularly interesting, theylook like ordinary insects, but the fascinating thing about fig wasps is theirlife cycle. Have you ever heard a story about wasps in figs? Well, it’s true,but don’t be disgusted. I will explain how fig wasps reproduce and why youshouldn’t be worried about eating figs.

The fig wasp andthe fig have a very special relationship with each other, since they bothheavily rely on one another. There are about 900 species of figs, and alsoabout 900 species of fig wasp, one for each species of fig. This is an exampleof coevolution, which is when different organisms affect how another organismevolves. The relationship between the fig wasp and the fig is so close thatwithout one, the other cannot exist.

Figs rely on figwasps for pollination, the same way many flowers rely on bees. Since the waspsare the only organism capable of pollinating the figs, figs wouldn’t existwithout them. However, the fig wasps also rely on the figs, since they laytheir eggs inside the figs. Since there are so many kinds of figs, we will usethe caprifig, a type of nonedible fig, as an example. Figs are not actuallyfruits, they’re syconiums, a type of pod with many flowers growing inside. Allof the reproductive parts of the fig are inside the flower. A female wasp willfly over to a fig, and climb through a narrow tunnel called the ostiole to getinside. This passage is so narrow that the wasp will lose its antennae andwings while entering. Now, she is inside the fig. But there are two kinds offigs, the male figs and the female figs. The female fig is not suitable forwasp eggs. If a wasp enters a female fig, she will die, but she deposits pollenfrom the male fig she was born from. This means there are dead wasps in thefigs you eat. But, when they die, an enzyme in the fig breaks the wasp downinto protein, so you don’t have to worry about eating wasps.

The male fig,however, is specially shaped to hold wasp eggs. When an egg is deposited in aflower, the flower will turn into a container called a gall which will hold theegg. When the males hatch, they leave their gall, find one with a female waspin it, and mate with her. The male then digs an escape tunnel out of the figand dies. The female uses this tunnel to leave the fig and continue the cycle.

For wild suzhou,I’m Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.