Posted on 05/14/2009 7:43:10 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Tennessee (ChattahBox) – Have a weird genetic flaw? Perhaps an ear bigger then the other, or bulging eyes? Well, as it turns out, this may save your life one day.
Tests performed on blue jays and salamanders has shown that predators are less likely to attack any form of their natural prey that is seen as somehow different.
In an interview with LiveScience, Dr, Benjamin Fitzpatrick explained:
“If one form has an advantage, such as being harder to spot, it should replace all others. Likewise, random drift [genetic change that occurs by chance] alone will eventually result in loss of all but one form when there are no fitness differences. There must therefore be some advantage that allows unusual traits to persist.”
Basically, they took a number of salamanders, one set with stripes in odd numbers, one with no strips in even numbers. They placed them in a field, and over the course of the study changed the amount of salamanders that were more prevalent.
The blue jays seemed to attack those that had most frequently been in greater numbers, even if their numbers decreased on that particular day.
It seems to point to an unwillingness (or perhaps inability to recognize) any variation that makes the creature different. In short, predators don’t like weird prey.
How does this reconcile with the theory that females (or males) only choose those potential mates that best exemplifies the species? Thus, the "weird" example may survive--but it won't breed to pass on the trait.
What about TWO BIG EARS?.......
The problem is that human predators (especially of the deviant and liberal variety) do not act like predators in nature. Therefore, those "differences" that might make animals in nature less appealing to their natural predators have a special appeal to deviant human predators.
Sometimes the one who breeds is the one who makes it to 2:00 am closing time, not the best of the bunch.
As a sometimes hunter, this makes sense, in that I would not voluntarily eat a bird or animal that is deformed. Not apetizing.
...and yet largemouth bass will try to engulf a buzzbait.
Take that 0prah!
And yet humans most often attack that which is not like them
That's because they plan to eat their prey. This does not extend to humans for 2 reasons: 1) we are predators, not prey, and 2) most human evolution is driven by tribal warfare, which is a team effort. Being weird isn't any help there.
I guess this theory would also explain the recent proliferation of Dems in the voter registry... Repubs just find them too weird to attack.
To your health...
(Hope I got the right one, I'd posted it on an earlier thread and get a red X in this environment)
I'm not weird, everyone else is.
...and yet largemouth bass will try to engulf a buzzbait.
Yep! I've caught bluefish with a crushed soda can. They are more fun than bass, but about as dumb as a bootlace. Anything shiny, they go nuts for!
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