How can a burr travel on an animal’s fur?

A burdock plant makes a prickly seed head called a burr. The burr has many tiny hooks on its outside. Seeds are carried inside the hooked covering.

When an animal brushes against the plant, some hooks can catch around hairs in its coat. The burr stays attached as the animal walks away. The animal supplies the movement.

Later, the burr may fall or be rubbed off somewhere else. Its seeds have then traveled away from the parent plant. The hooks help with carrying; they do not tell the animal where to go.