what organisms naturally eat peppers in the wild?

Question

by organisms i mean animals, birds, insects or whatever living thing consumes peppers in the wild... i ask this because it seems they have no natural predator besides us.

Answer 1

As it turns out, quite a lot. Working with the ancestor of most varieties of chili pepper plants, a University of Florida researcher has shown that the plant relies on its spiciness to ensure the very survival of its species.

In an article in Nature today, Josh Tewksbury, a UF postdoctoral researcher in zoology, and co-author Gary Nabhan, an ethnobotanist at Northern Arizona University, conclude that mammals, sensitive to the chemical that makes peppers taste hot, avoid the Capsicum annuum pepper.
Birds, however, are unaffected by the chemical, known as capsaicin, and they happily eat the peppers. This is essential for the plant, since birds release the seeds in their droppings ready to germinate -- whereas if mammals ate the seeds, they would crunch them up or render them infertile, the researchers report.

"The upshot is that it's very beneficial for the pepper to have mammals avoid its fruit and have birds attracted to them," Tewksbury said.
Using video cameras trained on the plants, they discovered that birds -- in particular, a species known as the curve-billed thrasher -- were the only animals eating the small, red peppers. Meanwhile, pack rats and cactus mice, the dominant fruit- or seed-eating mammals in the area, avoided the peppers entirely.

Answer 2

I think some birds do. There is a little hot pepper they call bird pepper in Jamaica. So I assume some kind of bird eats it.

Answer 3

rabbits ate my pepper plants last year. this year im getting creative. bug zapper transformer to 2 rows of chicken wire

Answer 4

None, that's why peppers are hot so they don't get eaten.
Also humans are the only species that eat cranberries.

Answer 5

i saw a slug eating one as if it was lettuce. reckon that slugs are too primitive to feel the hot taste

Answer 6

mushrooms.