ROM curatorial staff artifacts

TORONTO, ON - MARCH 18: Deb Metsger - The monkeypot fruit is one of my favourite specimens because of its cool shape and its specialized dispersal mechanism. The monkey pot tree Lecythis pisonis grows in the tropical rain forests of Brazil. Its'large woody fruits are borne at the top of the tree, nearly 30 meters (98 ft.) high. When the fruit is ripe - it literally pops its' lid -exposing densely packed seeds each of which is covered by a rich custardy morsel of food called an aril. A single species of bat - the Greater Spear-nosed Bat Phyllostomus hastatus feeds on the monkeypot seeds, eating the aril and dropping the seed away from the parent tree where it can germinate and grow into a new tree. Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images)