What is capsaicin?
Capsaicin is the natural, organic active ingredient in chili peppers that gives them their “hot” taste. Mammals have special neural receptors (similar to taste buds) for capsaicin and therefore, experience the “heat.” Birds either lack these receptors or have receptors that are insensitive to capsaicin. Most botanists and ornithologists believe that chili peppers evolved this way so that small mammals would avoid the hot taste, while birds freely eat the pungent pepper pod. This adaptation/coevolution would result in wide ranging dispersal of the undigested seed to ensure the natural propagation and long term survival of the chili pepper plant.
