From red apples and yellow lemons to blue berries and green melons, fruit comes in many different colors. Why do different kinds of fruit have so many colors?
According to Lu Wei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, fruit colors actually come from their different pigments(色素), such as red or yellow carotenoid(类胡萝卜素) and blue or purple anthocyanin(花青素). These pigments appear in different amounts, depending on the fruit's environment. This causes the fruit to turn a certain color.
To find out how environment affects fruit colors, Chinese scientists studied more than 280different fruit colors, including white, red, blue, purple and black.
They found that red fruits tend to grow in cooler places. And instead of just growing in one place, you can find them growing in many places around the world. Blue and purple fruits mostly grow in warm places. These fruits tend to grow a lot in just one specific area. The scientists also found that the closer the fruit is to the equator(赤道), the darker its color will be.
Animals have also had an impact on the evolution(进化) of fruit colors. Animals eat fruit and drop the seeds in other places later. This helps the fruit spread and grow in different places.Therefore, in order to attract animals, some fruits develop colors that are easy for animals to see.
However, animals see colors in a different way. Fruit needs to develop colors that are suited to animals' visual abilities. For example, birds can see red more easily than humans can. Therefore,there tend to be more red fruits in areas where birds live. The lemurs(狐猴) of Madagascar are red-green color-blind. Many yellow fruits can be found in their habitats(栖息地), as they can easily see this color.
a. environment b. pigment
c. animals d. humans' visual abilities
