"He must, so know the starfish and the student biologist who sits at the feet of living things, proliferate in all
directions. Having certain tendencies, he must move along their lines to the limit of their potentialities."

John Steinbeck - Log from the Sea of Cortez

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Let your love shine

OK, let's extrapolate the heck out of this.  There are some 2000 species of fireflies in the world.  In some, the females fly; in others, the females are wingless.  These flightless females sit on the ground or a twig and attract males with their luminescence.  It's the strategy of the male, though, that's interesting.  Biologists from Tufts University examined 32 species of fireflies.  They found that, in species with flying females, males provide sperm supplemented with protein that helps the female produce more eggs.  In most species with wingless females, the male provides no nutritional bonus.

What's motivates the different approach?  Perhaps it's just not necessary.  Could be that the flightless females don't need the extra energy. but their flying counterparts do.  Or maybe the males are just pissed off that they have to get up and go to work while the missus sits home and watches firefly Oprah.

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