There are two Ficus dubia stranglers (50 m apart) in Temburong, Brunei which for the last two years have fruited simultaneously at roughly the same time each year, late July to late August.
On each occasion, the avian visitors are dominated by Borneo’s two largest hornbills, Helmeted and Rhinoceros (both seed dispersers) and Large Green Pigeon a fig seed predator.
Birds don’t have teeth and only these large avian fig eaters have gapes wide enough to swallow Ficus dubia figs whole.
Other birds with smaller beaks and gapes can only feed when the figs are soft and over ripe, by which time the crop has already been swallowed.
This means that largest birds have the pick of the crop and in the competition for ripe Ficus dubia figs these 3 large birds are always the winners.
Thanks to Ulmar Grafe and Arlene Walshe for photos and information.
