Can't find the paper now, but I read a journal article on dispersal of malus sylvestris and it referenced bear or moose as key dispersers! Maybe large fauna are important and crab apples could have been more widespread/common or easily dispersed in a past without enclosed fields.
I think the crab apple mourns the loss of wild pigs as a seed disperser here. Wild cattle were probably important also. I read a Scottish paper that mentioned apples were frequent along droving roads. I often see the apples sit uneaten beneath trees here all winter.
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