Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for January 17, 2024

I didn’t know a fig tree could be so spiteful.

IIRC Alfie of Malta [Who was a regular commenter over on Andy Capp. ] often complained that the water dwelling “Mossies” in his backyard made being outside unbearable. While the rather annoying [redacted] neighbor made draining and fixing the problem hopeless.

Get the FIG outta here! . . . That poor wasp is not only expected to lay an egg, but then has to f*ck the fig at the same time? . . . it’s just not right, I tell you, IT JUST DON"T SEEM FAIR!

That fig yours?

As tiny as the island of Malta is, I wouldn’t expect any rivers, or even creeks. The biggest flowing body of water is probably a babbling brook.

Good for the fig tree!

Europe’s smallest member state lacks lakes and rivers and instead gets its water from two different sources: groundwater which can be found hundreds of meters underground and reverse osmosis plants along the coast that turn seawater into potable water. Malta has been inhabited for nearly 7000 years. Why would ancients stay on an island without water?

Well that explains why I had no fig crop this season.

The way the sentence regarding the fig wasp is constructed, indicates that the tree is aware that the fig wasp has not not pollinated its own egg and the fruit is discarded! Despite the grammatical faux pax, I understand the factoid is referring to the wasp pollinating the tree! It begs the question, how is the tree “aware” that a particular wasp’s egg is the one laid by that particular individual wasp who has failed to meet its contractual obligation to pollinate the blossoms? And is the wasp aware of the infanticide the tree commits in revenge for not receiving pollination? So much more to this scenario than is presented here. Also, who sits in a fig tree studying the relationship between the tree and a certain species of wasp that leads to the revelation of this factoid? Many times, RBION presents entries that are intended to shock and amuse, yet woefully neglect the details that inform and educate. But, yes, it is a comic and the original Ripley intended to entertain his readers with outlandish and surprising curiosities. Now; not so much!

So leave those figs on the ground alone, folks! They got wasp gut in them!

So figs have wasp babies in them? Yummy!

I”d never make it in Bhutan. First time someone offered me a donut, my response would be: “Sure – why not?”

It doesn’t matter how the fig tree figures out which figs to drop. The fact is: UNPOLLINATEDfigs fall to the ground, therefore they may contain eggs but an un-pollinated egg is just an egg. There are no Baby Wasps until the fig is pollinated. Am I right ? Or what ? If this is untrue, then human females are killing babies every month or so.

If you read the fig tree factoid carefully, you can see that dropping the fig has nothing to do with the wasp, present or absent. The tree is simply not wasting resources on development of unproductive fruit. Yes, the fig wasp may be the way the tree has evolved to be pollinated; that’s not cause and effect of dropping fruit.

The unanswered question here is “how do the Maltese get their water?” I suspect rain catchment, but don’t know.

This is why Bhutan doesn’t have an obesity epidemic

I was almost Maltese, or at least that is the story I am sticking with. My Mum dated a someone from Malta before she met the horrible, abusive, person she ended up marrying. When I was younger and we were watching The Maltese Falcon she let that slip and I said “Well, why didn’t you marry him instead?!” I’m not altogether sure why she put up with me.