figgy pudding

Last night on PBS was one of my favorite shows on television ever. The title is something to do with the queen, which refers to the star of the show, a Sycamore Fig tree in Africa. For those who are unfamiliar with figs, they are the centers of a complete ecosystem. I wanted to watch the show because it contained footage of fig wasps boring into figs, emerging from their galls, and being inseminated by the blind males with the gigantic...male parts. I also got to see each part of the ecosystem, from horn bills that nest in the trees to nematodes that infest the fig wasps (I hate nematodes, for the record. I once saw a slug eat one and cheered.). There are too many players and interactions to describe here, but I highly recommend this program.