Wildlife
Seed dispersal is when seeds are carried away from the parent plant either deliberately or accidentally. Often, animals are involved in dispersal, as when ants, squirrels and mice, collect and store seeds (including nuts). If the store is forgotten, or the animal dies, the seeds might germinate. Other animals may eat a plant's fruit and scatter the undigested seeds in their dung. Finally, some seeds are sticky or have hooks that catch on to fur and feathers, so the seed can hitch-hike to a new location. The seeds of some plants are carried by other vectors such as wind and water.
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Helping hand
Red river hogs are used by fruiting trees to disperse seeds far from the parent plant.
Red river hogs are used by fruiting trees to disperse seeds far from the parent plant.
Baby pygmy elephants and orangutans
In Borneo, Chris Packham reveals how rainforests depend on the large herbivores, such as orangutans and pygmy elephants, for their survival.
In Borneo, Chris Packham reveals how rainforests depend on the large herbivores, such as orangutans and pygmy elephants, for their survival.
Ant's harvest
Storing grain and seeds is unusual for these desert dwellers.
Storing grain and seeds is unusual for these desert dwellers.
Sowing the seed
Many birds play a vital role in the distribution of plant seeds.
Many birds play a vital role in the distribution of plant seeds.
Seed aviation
Some plants produce seeds that can fly, and come in all different shapes.
Some plants produce seeds that can fly, and come in all different shapes.
Giant panda
Spectacled bear
Argali sheep
Markhor
Musk ox
Wild boar
Plateau pika
Brush-tailed rock wallaby
Agile gibbon
Bonobo
Bornean orangutan
Chimpanzee
Crowned lemur
Golden langur
Indri
Japanese macaque
Lar gibbon
Olive baboon
Pied tamarin
Red ruffed lemur
Siamang
Slow lorises
Sumatran orangutan
Toque macaque
Tufted capuchin
Verreaux's sifaka
African bush elephant
Columbian mammoth
Forest elephant
Woolly mammoth
Brown rat
Grey squirrel
Demoiselle crane
Burrowing parrot
Ring-necked parakeet
Spix's macaw
Blue bird of paradise
Magnificent bird of paradise
Raggiana bird of paradise
Six-wired bird of paradise
Superb bird of paradise
Waxwing
Zebra finchSeed dispersal is the movement or transport of seeds away from the parent plant. Plants have limited mobility and consequently rely upon a variety of dispersal vectors to transport their propagules, including both abiotic and biotic vectors. Seeds can be dispersed away from the parent plant individually or collectively, as well as dispersed in both space and time. The patterns of seed dispersal are determined in large part by the dispersal mechanism and this has important implications for the demographic and genetic structure of plant populations, as well as migration patterns and species interactions. There are five main modes of seed dispersal: gravity, wind, ballistic, water and by animals. Some plants are serotinous and only disperse their seeds in response to an environmental stimulus. It can be measured using seed traps.
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Dandelions 
Giant sequoia 
Eastern box turtle
Brycons
Tambaqui