Animals

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Animals
Anyone with outdoor pets knows the variety of burrs and other sticky seeds that so readily attach themselves to fur. Burdock is a familiar example. Upon examination, you’ll see that burdock seed is covered with small hooked barbs. By attaching themselves to any animal that wanders by, these seeds can travel great distances. The hooks are so effective that an ingenious and observant inventor took their cue and invented the hook-and-loop closure commonly known as Velcro. The woods and fields are filled with various berries in the fall—important food for birds and other animals fattening up for winter. Many of these berries contain small, hard seeds that pass undisturbed through the birds’ digestive tract, to be deposited (fertilizer and all!) in a distant spot. Unlike burrs simply hitching a ride, berries provide nutrients that attract foraging animals, an incentive that surely increases dispersal compared to the burrs that must lie in wait for passersby.