Re: Gingko berries as evidence of dino sense of smell?

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

Actually, the Chinese do NOT eat the FRUIT, they eat the soft berry which is
inside the "seed" or "nut."

Even though it is illegal here in the Big Apple to collect the fruit off of
the ground underneath a tree, hordes of little Chinese ladies come around my
neighborhood every fall with big plastic bags and plastic gloves and gather
hundreds of the berries. They take these home (or to a local restaurant),
strip off the soft, orange outer part, throw it away, wash the "nut" and crack
it open with a hammer.

The soft white seed inside has a strange texture and almost no odor that I can
smell. I like eating them actually and as a result expect to live forever.

Perhaps dinosaur extinction was caused by the closing of too many Chinese
restaurants at the K-T boundary resulting in a lack of dietary Gingko Biloba.

The point, however, is whether all of this indicates anything useful about
dino noses.

Betty Cunningham wrote:

> You might hate the smell of the gingko but the chinese regard ginko
> berries as a delicacy.
>
> Similarlily, you might regard a spice that smells like dog p** as rather
> abhorrent but the indians and chinese (and I think arabs) cook with
> Asfoetida, also known collequailly as 'Devil's Dung' and 'Food of the
> Gods'.  They think it's nummy (I've heard they regard it along the same
> lines that westerners regard garlic).
>
> Myself, I can't go into a restaurant that serves it or I get sick from
> the overpowering smell coming from the kitchen.
>
> Just cause YOU think something is stinky does not mean all humanity
> thinks it's stinky.  Extrapolating such stinky receptions to whole other
> species is useless.
>
> -Betty Cunningham
>
> Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette wrote:
> >
> > 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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When you think of dinosaurs, think of DIG!
The Dinosaur Interplanetary Gazette - 245 Million Years of News at Dinosaur
Central
http://www.dinosaur.org  mailto:Editor@dinosaur.org
Recommended by The National Education Association,Encyclopedia Britannica
Internet Guide, Yahoo and Yahooligans Choice, Netscape Site of the Day. Member
of The Paleo Ring

Bear Bob's Story - Where the first teddy bear really came from....
A prequel to Teefr by Edward Summer
http://www.dinosaur.org/teefr/bearbob.htm  mailto:Teefr@Juno.Com
Book Two of the Teddy Quartet, A Yahooligans choice.

Laser Publishing Group, Planetarium Station, Box 502-DIG, NY, NY 10024-0502