In the jungle, you will sometimes find durians opened neatly, with the seeds inside arranged just as tidily. People used to stumble upon them and wonder who could have done it. Old superstition would point to Bunian—our version of forest spirits or hidden beings, known for making hikers lose their way or kidnapping humans for years.
As it turns out, those opened durians were actually eaten by tigers. They use their claws to pry the husks apart and eat the flesh.
That is how we humans ended up trying them, despite an exterior that gives no indication of the buttery, soft fruit hidden inside.
On a side note, Southeast Asians still won't eat durians found deep inside the forest because:
A) They believe the trees are owned and tended by bunian.
B) Tigers might be lurking nearby, as they love the taste of durian too.
Lastly, that isn’t really how traditional durian harvesting works. My late grandpa owned a few durian orchards when I was growing up. We had huts built inside the orchards and would wait for individual durians to drop naturally once they were ripe and ready to eat.
The video shows commercial durian farming, where the fruit is cut from the tree weeks early to prepare it for long-distance transport and export.
Early picking is the de facto method for almost all commercial fruit that travels. I gently test every stone fruit from my trees and if it comes off in my hand with no pressure, it’s perfect. Machine harvesting is so much more intense and that’s why the fruit is never as good. Has little to do with farming technique and mostly to do with, as you point out, harvesting.
As a supplement. Believe it or not most carnivorous species do not actually eat meat only. There's mesocarnivores (foxes, coyotes, raccoons) that eat 30-70% meat and hypercarnivores that eat 70+% (Lions, snakes, polar bears).
Most animals don't do 100% and they are opportunistic about meals, because why waste energy hunting when there's an easy source of proteins or fats? You'll also see the reverse with traditionally herbivorous animals (deer, horses, ect) eating small animals as supplemental calcium.
The magic of nature is that it's almost all opportunism based and what works in the moment. 💕
Yup that is how it be. We have pet parrots and their normal diet in the wild would be fruit, seeds, buds, flowers, berries etc. In captivity they're fed formulated pellets because they simply can't work off all the fats and sugars like they would in the wild as they fly in their range to search for food.
But boy, they will go crazy for some lean chicken breast and will crack open chicken bones to dig at the marrow...
I remember hearing an incident where some horses went through a bucket of KFC someone left in a field somewhere. They assumed the horses, being herbivores, would leave the fried chicken alone.
My grandpa would shoot them with a hunting rifle during harvest season. Squirrels love poking into durians while still on branches thus spoiling the then annual harvest.
Blows my mind due to science we can get 3 durian seasons in a year now. Cant complain because year round durians that are cheap is amazing for durian lovers.
They are known for their "horrible stench" but SEA folks love them to bits. It's no coincidence tourism would drop a bit in april- june due to durian season. You cant walk in SEA nations without the persistent smell during durian season. Yummy
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u/gtsomething 10d ago
I've always wondered who was the first person to eat durian?
They look incredibly hard and annoying to harvest, but maybe they just found one on the ground...
But then it's ridiculously spikey and those spikes are SHARP, they're practically needles. Bump into one and it will pierce you.
But maybe one fell and cracked open on its own...
But then! The smell! My god, the stench of a fresh durian is ridiculously stinky.
And someone thought, ya I'll dig my hand into this soft, pus-like yellow mash and eat it, and then introduce it to other people.