When it comes to eating spicy food, humans are not the "light of mammals"!

The Yunnan tree shrew Tupaia belangeri chinensis is probably the only mammal, other than some humans, that can smell the aroma of chili sauce.

Capsaicin is a substance used by plants for defense. Almost all mammals are afraid of chili peppers. In some places, chili oil is applied to fences to drive away elephants that steal crops. In the capsaicin receptor TRPV1 of tree shrews, an amino acid mutation occurs, which reduces the sensitivity of their tongue and throat to capsaicin, so they can eat chili peppers without worrying about it.

However, peppers are native to America, and tree shrews have not seen this for most of their evolutionary history. The "opponent" that allowed them to evolve the ability to fight capsaicin is not peppers. Scientists are more optimistic about Piper boehmeriifolium, a plant of the genus Piper that exists in the same region as tree shrews and can produce a substance similar to capsaicin, Cap2.

- END -

The illustrations in this article are not scientific illustrations but have undergone certain artistic processing.

Comic Script: The Red Queen

Scientific review: Species Calendar Team

Painting: Chen Pupu

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

If you need to reprint, please contact [email protected]