Coconut has one of the most unique and versatile flavors you’ll find in fruit, but it also shares surprisingly much in common with humans and our mammalian counterparts. It is common knowledge that hair or coat growth and the ability to produce milk are some of the most common traits found in mammals, and coconuts are also known for their hairy appearance and the delicious milk they produce. But does that make them mammals? Here’s everything you need to know about whether coconuts are mammals or not, and everything you need to know about their place in the broader system of biological taxonomy.
The case of coconuts as mammals
Fresh coconut milk bottle for skincare with fresh coconut. Coconut milk is processed using the meat inside coconuts, while mammalian milk is made from the mammary glands.
The idea that coconuts are the same as mammals is based on a concept known as morphology or the idea that animals can be biologically grouped based on the fact that they share the same structural qualities. And from a morphological point of view, on a superficial level, there is a decent argument that coconuts are mammals. Most mammals have many different characteristics, but only three are characteristic of all members of this species. These:
- Ability to produce milk
- Hair or fur
- Ears are made up of three bones
Initially, coconuts appear to fit two of these criteria. Coconut milk has been a staple food staple throughout Oceania, East Africa, and parts of Asia for many years, and over the past few decades, it has become a popular commodity in grocery stores around the world. And like more traditional milk, coconut milk has an opaque white color and a high concentration of nutrients and vitamins. Unfortunately, this is where the similarities end. Coconut milk is processed using the meat inside coconuts, while mammalian milk is made from the mammary glands. In other words, the name of coconut milk has more to do with marketing than with any biological or taxonomic meaning.
Another common feature of coconuts and mammals is that they grow hair or fur. In mammals, fur serves as a method of protecting their bodies from the cold, although many animals have invented special secondary purposes for fur – as in the case of cats developing whiskers as senses or the seasonally changing camouflage of snowshoe hare fur. Even mammals that did not originally have furs, such as whales and naked mole rats, do have it in small quantities.
At first glance, the furry surface of coconuts may appear similar to the furry surface of mammals, but the appearance can be deceiving. Instead, coconut fibers are the outer layers of the husk, and the husk serves as a hard shell protecting the inside of the nut. This allows the coconut to fall from the tree and resist animal attacks, while the seeds inside have a chance to sprout.
The case against coconuts as mammals
The case for coconuts to be considered mammals is no longer convincing, but highlighting the dubious nature of the use of the terms milk and hair to characterize coconuts only dances around the question of why coconuts are not mammals. Since finding morphological similarities can help us understand how different organisms relate to each other, the ultimate goal of taxonomy is to create a clear and hierarchical way of defining the branches of evolutionary history. Organisms that are considered mammals are not considered so because they have a certain set of characteristics. They are considered mammals because they share a common ancestor with these qualities.
While you will find common ancestors in coconuts and mammals, this goes much further on the evolutionary tree. Milk, as defined for the classification of mammals, is produced in the mammary glands. The density and nutritional value of milk can vary greatly from one mammalian species to another, but they all come from the same gland that first appeared in a common ancestor. Recent research even suggests that the mammary glands originated from the same source as hair follicles. Today they remain the defining traits of mammalian origin.
The place of coconuts in taxonomy
But if coconuts don’t have a sufficiently recent ancestor to be classified as mammals, how related are they? And how did they manage to develop similar traits, despite such a distant origin? We can figure this out by following the taxonomy path.
- Mammals belong to the class of mammals and are distinguished by the presence of hair follicles, mammary glands and the characteristic structure of the nasal bones.
- The Mammalia class belongs to Phylum Chordate. Not all chordates have a spine; they all, at some point in their lives, develop four physiological structures that serve as the source of the spine and central nervous system. Reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians share this type with mammals.
- The second largest classification in taxonomy is kingdom. Mammals belong to Kingdom Animalia, which consists mainly of organisms that reproduce sexually and are usually motile. Most of the members of this kingdom also consume nutrients from external sources. The other five kingdoms are plants, fungi and three types of microscopic organisms.
- Finding a common ancestor between mammals and coconuts takes all the way to the top of taxonomy. As members of the archaea domain, coconuts and mammals are prokaryotes. The main thing they have in common is that their cells do not have nuclei, but this also allows for rapid evolution and therefore rapid differentiation.
- Fundamental differences in cellular structure from mammals make coconuts into Kingdom Plantae. Due to the lack of cell walls and the evolutionary results of this trait, plants can derive their nourishment from passive consumption of sunlight, oxygen and water. This allows plants such as coconut palms, for which the coconut is just a seed, to remain largely mobile.
- Coconut palms belong to the order Arecales, which encompasses a narrow variety of flowering plants. Most varieties of flowering trees belong to this order. This means that coconuts themselves are flowers and seeds.
- Going back to where we started, the coconut tree falls into the Arecaceae class, which by modern definitions is the only existing class to fall under the scope of Order Arecales. This puts coconut palms in the company of palms, which is certainly a far cry from the mammalian class of monkeys, elephants, and mice.