1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:06,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:11,120 Speaker 1: brain Stuff lorn vogoba here. Back before pumpkin pies were 3 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: even a glimmer in the eyes of Bakers, Eistocene era mastodons, 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: mammoths and giant sloths were spreading the seeds of these 5 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:24,160 Speaker 1: fruit far and wide. Anywhere that these huge animals, collectively 6 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: known as megafauna roamed would become a dumping ground, if 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: you'll pardon the pun. Before these seeds of pumpkins squash 8 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,880 Speaker 1: and other members of the genus Cucurbetta, which would then 9 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: spring up from those seeds. But while these wild fruits 10 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:43,160 Speaker 1: were nourishing giant animals, these ancestral pumpkins were not yet 11 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,520 Speaker 1: part of the diet of humans or smaller animals due 12 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:51,199 Speaker 1: to the plant's toxicity and better taste. A study by 13 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: an international group of researchers who looked at Gordon squash 14 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: seeds in Mastodon dung has shown that the extinction of 15 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: megafauna about twelve thousand years ago lead in a rather 16 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: roundabout way, to the evolution of Cucurbitda from the toxic 17 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: and bitter into the pasty pumpkins and other winter squash 18 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: that we enjoy for Thanksgiving, and which in turn evolved 19 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: into the now ubiquitous pumpkin spice lattes, beers, and ice creams. 20 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: Though note that there is a difference between pumpkin flavoring 21 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: and pumpkin spice flavoring. The latter may be made up 22 00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: with fall pie spices like allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, 23 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:35,479 Speaker 1: and have no actual pumpkin flavoring involved. But how could 24 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: the extinction of megafauna back then a lad us even 25 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 1: in a roundabout way to autumn's most used fall flavor. Now, 26 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: I think of coevolution, that is, when two or more 27 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 1: species mutually affect each other's evolution. For the article, this 28 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with Lee Newsom, 29 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: co author of the studying question and an associate professor 30 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: of anthropology at and State. She said, there's a whole 31 00:02:03,080 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: suite of plants that have co evolved. It's called dispersal mutualism. 32 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: With animals, there's a large number that are co evolved 33 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 1: with mammals. Some just hitch a ride on mammal fur 34 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: then ultimately fall off somewhere. The fruit of other plants, 35 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,519 Speaker 1: such as the wild gourds that giant sloths and wooly 36 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: rhinos chowed on, are eaten and their seeds expelled, maybe 37 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:32,239 Speaker 1: miles from where the original plant grew. Imagine automobile sized 38 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: mastodons running rampant across the environment of what's now North 39 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: Florida and Georgia, eating wild gourds, then expelling seeds which 40 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: are still lodged in the dung that Newsome and her 41 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 1: team found and studied. As the environment warmed following the 42 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: most recent ice age and the large mammals became extinct, 43 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: Newsome explained, quote the plants were left without their primary 44 00:02:54,800 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: partner and disperser, but enter a new partner us and 45 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: Nuson explained, by then humans were present, and we're starting 46 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: to make use of wild gourds and squash for containers, 47 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:13,359 Speaker 1: and ultimately humans are planting the seeds and changing them. 48 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: As the plants evolved, it adapted to the new environment. 49 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: Smaller animals found that some of the cucurbidda didn't taste 50 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: as bitter anymore. Over that dozen millennia that have passed 51 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: since the end of the place to see an ice age, 52 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,720 Speaker 1: wild gourds and squash evolved into the tasty foods we 53 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: eat today. So next time you're chowing down on a 54 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,960 Speaker 1: pumpkin pie, squash casserole, or pumpkin spice latte, remember the 55 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: mastodons and they're dung. Without the demise of megafauna, pumpkins 56 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,640 Speaker 1: might have remained bitter and unpleasant to our palate and 57 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: would have a much less flayorful diet. Today's episode is 58 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: based on the article Mastodons and mammoths gave their lives 59 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: so you could have pumpkin spice latte on house to 60 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: Works dot Com, written by Karen Kirkpatrick. Brain Sets production 61 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and partnership with has stuff works 62 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 1: dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Klang. Four 63 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 64 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.