Sacrificial Nature

Figs start off as an enclosed, inverted flower. The shape of their flower inhibits them from relying on bees or wind to spread their pollen in the same way other flowers do. Instead, figs must rely on the help of pollinator wasps to reproduce. Nearing the end of her life, a female wasp will crawl through the tiny opening of the inverted fig flower to lay her eggs. She will break off her antennas and wings in the process, dying shortly thereafter. Then her body is digested by an enzyme within the fig while her eggs prepare to hatch. Once they hatch, male larvae mate with female larvae, which then crawl out of the fig with pollen attached to their bodies to continue both species’ lifecycles. Figs rely on wasps to reproduce just as much as wasps do on figs to populate. We live in an interdependent world whether we realize it or remain arrogantly ignorant. We must perform our roles as primary caretakers of Earth.