Интересно вообще, но и чуть-чуть про каннибализм. Источник - "облегченные" (для тех, кто по английски - еле-еле) передачи радиостанции Голос Америки о новостях науки. Аудиозапись (mp3) передачи у меня есть.
Цитата:
A study has demonstrated the lasting influence of experiences early in life, at least in a kind of spider.
Eileen Hebets of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, did the study. She says the findings show that social experience influences choice in mates. She says the study also shows that creatures without backbones, invertebrates, have social recognition.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported her findings. The National Institutes of Health provided money for the study.
The researcher studied wolf spiders because males have different appearances. Some have hair on their front legs. Or their markings might be of different colors. Other kinds of male spiders usually look alike.
The study involved female wolf spiders not yet old enough to mate. Eileen Hebets put them in containers with adult males of different looks. Later, once the females became adults, the highest rate of mating was with males that looked similar to those they had seen before. The females were more likely to attack other males that attempted to mate with them.
Mizz Hebets had painted the legs of the males either black or brown. The longer a female had been left with males painted one of the colors, the more likely she was to eat a male painted with the other. The researcher says the study also demonstrates how females can influence the passing and development of genetic qualities.
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Кто-то петухам гребни наращивает, а кто-то паучкам ножки красит :-) Хотя аналогия тут не полная - явления-то разные.
13.09.2007, 18:37
Древовидный вид