Anthropology, Evolution and Science
Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called Transitions:The Evolution of Life His previous blog can be found here.
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Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
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Category: Botany • Invertebrates • Silliness
Posted on: July 19, 2007 1:55 PM, by afarensis, FCD
National Geographic has a story about an orchid that has evolved to resemble a female wasp:
The orchid was recently discovered in Australia. Australia, you may recall, has more poisonous critters than pretty much anyplace else in the world, has carnivorous kangaroos, and now sex starved wasps*...
* Note my restraint, there are any number of obscene jokes and puns that I could have made about this, but instead choose to make fun of Australia (Note to Australians, I kids 'cause I loves).
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Comments
And wasp-mimicking orchids is supposed to be news to whom, Darwin fans? Nice picture though. This or a similar species has featured on one or more of Attenborough's BBC series; typically Australian, it's a lazy sort of mechanism for the orchid, using a simple hinge so that the male wasp's attempts to fly off with the 'female' flip him over on top of the pollinium. Not even spring-loaded!
Most of the carnivorous kangaroos are (sadly) extinct, and the venomousness of our fauna is greatly overrated (except for the jellyfish, the snakes and the spiders). And some of the wasps; I once copped a sting from a big spider-killer that felt exactly like being hit on the thumb with a hammer. (For 'South Park' fans: suppose I shouldn't have stuck my thumb up its arse).
And don't get me started on the Queensland Stinging Tree...
Posted by: John Scanlon | July 23, 2007 1:51 AM