Gingko berries as evidence of dino sense of smell?

[Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette <dinosaur@dinosaur.org>]

Anyone who has ever had a close enounter with Gingko berries in the fall
will undoubtedly agree with my dubbing them p*ke berries. (I'm not sure
if P*ke is a politically correct word these days, so I apologize to
those with tender sensibilites or no children or both).

They smell something like substances that could have come out of either
end of a sick dog.

Nonetheless, the apparent evolutionary strategy of "fruit" is to get an
animal to eat it, digest it, and deposit the undigested seeds (coated
with nice, nutritious, fertilizing scat) in a new location where they'll
grow.

Gingko seeds have just the right characteristics: soft, fleshy, edible
fruit, hard inner shell containing a seed.

>From modern sensibility, however, they aren't as tasty and don't smell
anywhere near as good as a peach or an avocado.

One would conclude, however, that yer average neighborhood dino might
just think that gingko fruit was the best-smelling, tastiest thing on
the menu at the Sauropod Hilton.

Has anyone considered this idea and used it to extrapolate to the
sensory capabilities of our saurian friends?


E. Summer

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