From red apples and yellow lemons to blueberries 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). These pigments appear in different amounts(量), depending on the fruit's environment. This causes the fruit to turn a certain color.
To find out how environment affects(影响) fruit colors, Chinese scientists studied more than 280 different fruit colors, including white, red, blue, purple and black.
They found that red fruit mostly grows 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 fruit mostly grows in warm places. These fruit grows a lot in just one 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 played an important role in 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. In order to attract(吸引) animals, some fruit develop colors that are easy for animals to see.
However, animals see colors in a different way. Fruit needs to develop colors that are easy for animals to see. For example, birds can see red more easily than humans can. So there is more red fruit in areas where birds live. A kind of monkey in Madagascar are red-green color-blind. Many yellow fruit can be found around them as they can easily see this color.
a. environment b. pigment
c. animals d. humans' visual abilities
