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Figs and wasps: "Nature's coolest collaboration"

Neither can survive without the other.

A fig wasp on green figs on a blurred creamy background.

With pollen on her legs, the fig wasp crawls towards a tiny opening at the tip of the fig. Then a dangerous journey begins.

(Photo: Somboon Kamtaeja / Shutterstock / NTB)

Ingrid Schou Ingrid Schou Journalist

Published 29 May 2026 - 00:01

All living things share one important goal: producing offspring that can continue the species. Sometimes, different species cooperate to make that happen.

"This has to be nature’s coolest collaboration," says insect expert Frode Ødegaard.

He is referring to the close bond between an insect and a flower.

"Neither of them can survive without the other," he says.

And the journey is dramatic.

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Close-up of a fig wasp on a green fig with a blurred background. — "It's so cramped on the way into the flower that the wings and antennae are often torn off," says insect researcher Frode Ødegaard.

Remains of a fig wasp

If you eat a wild fig, there may be remains of a tiny black fig wasp inside it.

"It's there because the flower and the fig wasp are completely dependent on each other," says the researcher.

Figs are juicy and delicious, but they are not actually fruit.

"A fig is really a flower that has folded inwards," Ødegaard explains.

Dense green leaves and branches framed against a bright blue sky. — Wild figs are often found in warm countries. Here you can see wild figs in Palestine.

Most flowers open outwards so their pollen is exposed. Think of a daisy with its yellow, dusty centre. As insects move from flower to flower, they carry pollen on their legs. This process is known as pollination.

"But in a fig, the pollen is not so easily acessible. Everything points inwards. The tiny flowers are hidden inside the fig," he says.

For the fig to survive, those flowers must be pollinated. But how can the pollen get inside?

Wings and antennae are ripped off

This is where the fig wasp enters the picture.

With pollen clinging to her legs, she crawls towards an almost invisible opening at the tip of the fig. Then a dangerous journey begins.

"It's so cramped on the way into the flower that the wings and antennae are often torn off," says Ødegaard.

It is possible to get inside, but it is not possible to turn back. Eventually, she reaches a dark chamber filled with tiny flowers.

The pollen she carries from another fig falls off and fertilises the flowers.

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One final task remains: the fig wasp lays her eggs there. It takes everything she has, and she dies afterwards.

Portrait photo of Frode Ødegaard. — Frode Ødegaard studies insects and is an associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

90 million years

When the tiny eggs hatch, it's the males that hatch first. They do not have wings and spend their whole lives inside the fig.

They then mate with the females.

The female wasps collect pollen and crawl out through the tunnel. Then they fly off in search of a new fig.

Researchers believe that the collaboration between figs and fig wasps may be up to 90 million years old. That means they were already working together when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

"It's one of the most remarkable collaborations we know of in nature," says Ødegaard.