Scientists, however, cannot understand why it kills birds - it doesn't seem to be doing it any good.
We are talking about pyzonia, a tree that grows on the coral islands and reefs of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. On this tree grow long seed pods, covered with mucus and hooks and "grasping" everything that touches them. When, for example, a bird sits on a tree branch, the pods stick around the bird's body with hooks, as a result of which it can no longer fly away and after a while dies of hunger. Moreover, this is not an isolated case, but a widespread practice: because of it, Pizonia was nicknamed "the bird-catcher".
Alan Burger, a researcher from the University of Victorian (Canada), heard about this tree back in the 1990s and went to Cousin Island in the Seychelles to better study the pyzonia and understand why it "treats" birds so bloodthirsty … Over the course of 10 months, between 1999 and 2000, the specialist conducted experiments to determine the benefits of pyzonia from birds "captured" by seed pods.
To begin with, the researcher looked to see if the decomposing, nutrient-rich bodies of birds had any positive effect on seed growth. However, as Burger saw, the seeds survived and germinated in the same way - both next to the corpse and far from it. In addition, it is noted that the tree would receive more fertilizer from bird droppings - thus, they would be much more useful to him alive.
The researcher never found a reason why pyzonia kills birds. Moreover, live birds would be of greater benefit to her, including by helping to spread her seeds.
Burger's study of pyzonia was published in the Journal of Tropical Ecology back in 2005.