this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
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They dont. It just happens that natural selection favored flowers that looked vaguely bird like and over time, flowers that looked more and more like a bird outcompeted the ones that looked less like one.
What's funny is how absurd this is. Most flowers don't look like birds and they're fine.
This has nothing to do with natural selection. It's just a coincidence that the buds very shortly and from a specific angle vaguely look like birds.
Most of the images shared are probably photoshopped to enhance the effect too.
looks at user name
Sounds like something a BIRD would say!
Squaaawk, you got me!
Wow you're right.
It's more like "look at this blossom that looks a bit like a bird" rather than "look at this type of tree that makes bird-like blossoms".
I don't think photoshop is needed to find the right flowers and photograph at the right angle.
It's about tiny percents.
A bird will land on a flower.
A bird will not land on a bird.
So every one in a million time a bird mistakes a flower for a bird, that's a flower that survives.
All you have to do is wait a couple million years for the odds to turn in the bird flower's favor.
...But birds pollinate flowers. How is a bird not landing on this (particular, too) flower going to help it survive?
Maybe they're tree scarecrows to keep bugs away
Sir, I believe those would be scarebugs.
If they keep bugs away then I'll take a dozen.
Right, but what about the mimic plant? It mimicks whatever plant is near it. And it can mimic plastic plants. https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/11/30/23473062/plant-mimicry-boquila-trifoliolata
Should be a pretty trivial experiment to replicate