Organisms
pharyngula | September 23, 2011They are utterly adorable, and I feel the stirrings of the maternal impulse deep in my mantle. The way their little bodies bob as they swim…awww, for cute.
(via Deep Sea News)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | September 21, 2011This is a beautiful illustration of the flaw in applying human sexual conventions to non-human organisms. researchers studying deep-sea squid found that all of the squid, male and female alike, were speckled with sperm packets — the males just flick these things out at any passing squid, on the chance that it's a female. It's silly to call this bisexuality or same-sex mating, though — it's pretty darned common in invertebrates. Many species of sea urchins, for instance, indulge in synchronized ejaculatory orgies: on one or a few days a year, all of the individuals in a colony simultaneously…
pharyngula | September 17, 2011I have never seen one of these alive before, and most of you probably haven't, either: a priapulid worm. You've seen thousands of cats, which are common as dirt, but here's something wonderfully unusual.
Definitely uncircumcised.
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | September 14, 2011This orchid actually does just that. Explicit, detailed diagrams of it fertilizing itself below. Tell the children to close their eyes!
(via National Geographic)
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pharyngula | September 11, 2011This is tragic. A unique site where the giant cuttlefish migrates and breeds is under threat by the construction of a desalination plant that would render the local waters unsupportable to cuttlefish life. This must be stopped!
There is a petition: sign it.
(via Cuttlefish, of course)
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | September 6, 2011Human beings are weirdly adaptable creatures, aren't they?
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | September 3, 2011I have been trying to understand the peculiar popularity of these posts about sharp-clawed carnivores called "cats", and near as I can tell it has something to do with the property of cuteness. "Cute" seems mostly undefinable, however, but usually seems to involve playful juvenile behavior by large-eyed creatures. This seems to qualify: Sepiolid burying behavior. It's adorable!
It's cute how it so quickly conceals itself to lurk and wait for prey to swim by.
I'm still trying to grasp the concept of cute, though. Is this cute? It's a giant Pacific octopus swimming up an Alaskan creek.
Do…
pharyngula | September 2, 2011I've been flattened with some flu-like bug, so don't expect creativity from me today, or even any effort.
(NatGeo)
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pharyngula | August 31, 2011I don't know whether to be intimidated or aroused by the description that goes with this image. Or both.
The dominatrices of the orchid world are the Bucket Orchids. They are pollinated by orchid bees that want the plant's aromatic oils to use them in their courtship dance with females. But what the poor bees go through to get them!
The orchids secrete the aromatic fluid into the bucket-shaped lip, and
the bee will often fall into the fluid at the bottom of the bucket. There are knobs inside that go one way but the rest of the bucket is lined with smooth hairs pointing downwards and so…
pharyngula | August 29, 2011Someone had to know what they were doing, mixing "flash", "tits", and "sperm" all in one short title, "Flashier Great Tits Produce Stronger Sperm, Bird Study Shows". I don't care what the article said, I'm currently having palpitations and am having trouble focusing on my work.
(Also on FtB)
pharyngula | August 28, 2011I raised a few questions about those 3.4 billion year old bacterial fossils, primarily that I was bugged by the large size and that they cited a discredited source to say that they were in the appropriate range of diameters for bacteria. Now my questions have been answered by Chris Nedin, and I'm satisfied. In particular, he shows data from 0.8 and 1.9 billion year old fossils in which the bacterial sizes are in the same range. It's also a good review of the other evidence used to infer that they actually are bacterial microfossils.
(Also on FtB)