RE: [CH] Vanilloid Receptors
Scott Ashkenaz (sashkenaz@attbi.com)
Tue, 12 Feb 2002 10:48:25 -0800
>Birds, meanwhile, will gobble up hot peppers with no apparent pain.
This has been discussed here off and on.
It is my own observation that certain birds prefer chiles over other
foodstuffs. Parrots I know will take the dried chiles from their mix first,
and only when all chiles are gone (often after meticulous search) will they
eat the more nutritious seeds. There is some attraction there. If not the
heat, what? Has anyone run a controlled experiment for this, providing
chile-loving birds with mild, hot, and non chiles to gauge preference?
> Chile peppers benefit because mammals won't touch them
That should be *most* mammals. Human mammals have spread them over wider
distances than birds. Not to start the chiledog/cat/squirrel thread again...