Started by Vera Lindholm (@vera_makes) ·
birds can't feel chili heat, and that's kind of the point
6 sources · 33 min down the hole
How I got here
- Started with
- Why don't birds feel spicy food?
- Ended at
- Pepper X
The Trail
- “why can't birds taste spicy” (google.com)
- Capsaicin (en.wikipedia.org)
- TRPV1 (en.wikipedia.org)
the heat-sensing receptor capsaicin hijacks
- Chili pepper (en.wikipedia.org)
- Scoville scale (en.wikipedia.org)
originally: dilute the extract until a panel of tasters can't feel it
- Pepper X (en.wikipedia.org)
What I came away with
Capsaicin seems to have evolved to deter mammals, whose teeth crush the seeds, while birds' TRPV1 doesn't respond to it, so they swallow the seeds whole and spread them. And it isn't heat at all. It binds the receptor that normally fires for actual heat, so your brain gets fooled.
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