On the Amami Islands of Japan, wonder blooms from a nibble and some droppings. In February 2020, an amateur naturalist named Yohei Tashiro was walking through the evergreen forests of the islands, situated about halfway between mainland Japan and Taiwan. On the ground, nestled against the roots of a tree, he noticed a cluster of strange, red globes — like strawberries crossed with red cap mushrooms. Even more interesting: Something clearly had been going to town on the ruby-red growths, the fruits of a weird little plant called Balanophora yuwanensis. A plant oddity, B. yuwanensis does not perform photosynthesis, but rather leaches its energy from the roots of other plants. Technically, it’s a parasite. While scientists had long figured that B. yuwanensis relied on the wind to spread its seeds, dense plants growing beneath the tree canopy cut down on how much air can blow through the forest. In addition, the plant’s seeds are tightly packed, dry and rather unappealing aside from their vibrant color. “Yes, I tried it,” said Kenji Suetsugu, an ecologist at Kobe University in Japan, “but it was not sweet and not tasty.” Birds have been known to eat the fruits, but only sparingly, leaving the scientists to wonder: Could the parasitic plant get around by advertising its seeds to an ancient, endangered and equally weird mammal instead? Enter the nocturnal Pentalagus furnessi, or Amami rabbit, the world’s only dark-furred wild bunny. In a study published this week in the journal Ecology, Dr. Suetsugu and Hiromu Hashiwaki, a co-author also of Kobe University, posit an evolutionary bargain between Amami rabbits and B. yuwanensis. The root-sucking plants give food in exchange for seed dispersal services — something that has never been documented between a mammal and a parasitic plant.