Fig Wasp facts

While investigating facts about Fig Wasp Life Cycle and Fig Wasp Video, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Figs are considered an animal product by many vegans. Female wasps crawl into figs, lay their eggs and die. The mother wasp is enzymatically digested by the fig.

how to attract fig wasps?

All figs are pollinated by wasps as they are basically inverted flowers and can't be pollinated otherwise. If it's a female plant the wasp can't escape and the fig plant slowly digests the wasp's body with enzymes. So all edible figs have a digested wasp in them.

What does a fig wasp look like?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what do fig wasps eat. Here are 50 of the best facts about Fig Wasp Pollination and Fig Wasp Eggs I managed to collect.

what is a fig wasp?

A fig tree tricks a certain species of wasp to pollinate it, sends it down a small passage in the fruit where its wings are ripped off, after which it is digested by enzymes. Figs eat wasps.
Figs aren't always considered vegetarian. This is because when a wasp pollinates them, the fig's inward facing flowers often trap the wasp and absorb her into the fig.
Figs are carnivorous and get pollinated by "eating" fig wasps who mistake female figs or male figs.
The fig tree is pollinated by the fig wasp which then dies inside the fruit. The offspring then mate inside and the females escape to pollinate the next fig.
The crunchy bits in figs are not the remains of the fig wasp that was needed to pollinate the flower that became the fig, as the wasp exoskeleton will have been broken down by a figgy enzyme called ficin.
Figs aren't actually a fruit, but rather an inverted flower that can only be pollinated when a female fig wasp crawls in. The wasp is then consumed by the flower.
Figs are pollinated by special type of wasp which enters the infructescence through a tiny passage. Various animals eat figs and disperse their seed via feces.
Figs frequently contain dead wasps and may not be considered vegan
Some species of male wasps spend their entire life inside of figs - and for this reason, some vegans do not eat figs
Almost every species of fig has its own species of wasp

fig wasp facts — What do fig wasps look like?

Why are fig wasps important?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

There is a species of wasp called a fig wasp that burrows itself into a fig and is usually dissolved into the fig as nutrients to help mature the fruit

Most of the figs from a classic fig tree contain at least one dead wasp. - source

In all figs we eat, there is a corpse of a fig-wasp inside that has deposited it's eggs inside the fig meanwhile pollinating it. The wasp never leaves the fig again and dies inside. - source

There is a type of wasp (Blastophaga Wasp) that pollinates figs and if they are unlucky enough to pollinate a female fig, they will die inside of it and the fig will produce an enzyme called, "ficin" that turns the wasp into protein for the pollinated fig.

There is a family of wasps known as fig wasps that reproduce and DIE inside figs before we eat them - source

When you eat a fig you eat a wasp?

The fig is technically a flower that is pollinated by a wasp. Almost every species of fig plant—more than seven hundred and fifty in total—has its own species of wasp.

How do fig wasps pollinate fig trees?

Figs are pollinated by wasps, and it's possible that you've eaten a wasp inside a fig.

Figs bloom internally so to get pollinated, female fig wasps snap off their wings and antennae while forcing themselves permanently into the fig through its shell. She lays eggs, they hatch, and the offspring mate; males are wingless so they can build a tunnel for the females to exit and repeat

There's a dead female wasp in every fig because they get stuck inside the fig when pollinating it, and then become decomposed inside

Figs aren’t vegan. Due to the way they are pollinated, each fig contains the remains of at least one wasp.

Some vegetarians refuse to eat figs, as they can contain dead wasps.

Interesting facts about fig wasp

There is at least one dead wasp inside the figs we eat. Female Fig Wasps pollinate both male & female figs - entering through a small hole called the ostiole. They cannot lay eggs in the female fig, so only end up spreading their pollen to the internal flowers of the fig and then dying.

About figs. Figs are pollinated by a wasp, which then becomes trapped and is digested by enzymes in the fig. In effect, figs are basically wasps. Yum.

Female fig wasps pollinate female fig plants by burrowing inside them to reach the flowers and afterwards the fig releases an enzyme to breakdown the wasp and absorb the waspie nutrients. (Explanation starts at 4:45)

Figs are not vegan friendly because wasps that pollenate them are trapped inside the flower and die in what then becomes the fruit.

How big are fig wasps?

Figs are pollinated by a wasp wich then dies in the female fig and dissolves in there because of enzymes released by the fig once it's impregnated!

Figs are not considered vegan because they are pollinated by wasps, and during this process, results in the wasp being trapped inside the fruit causing them to die.

Wasps burrow inside figs to pollinate them and die there, leaving their eggs behind.

What Mutualism is and the mutual relationship between the fig fruit and the fig wasp

Fig trees are pollinated by wasps who enter the figs, drop their eggs in the flowers inside the figs and then die inside the fruit. The male offsprings impregnate the female ones before the females hatch.

If you're eating a Fig Newton and you bite into something crunchy, it's most likely a piece of a dead fig wasp.

Wasps like laying their eggs inside of figs then end up dying inside. If you enjoy eating figs then you are probably eating a dead wasp as well.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Fig Wasp. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Fig Wasp so important!