paperwasp
I cut and paste the picture and write-up straight from the Scientific American Website (since there didn't seem to be a permanent link). Thank you Scientific American!
It find it so interesting that social stability would be so desired an outcome in a species that a system of hierarchy somehow became a part of its genetics. I'd like to ask the authors of the study a ton of questions.
This article would probably fall under the "proving-life's-not-fair-after-all category."
Anyway, here's the article:
November 15, 2004
FEMALE PAPER WASPS have distinctive black facial markings that correlate with their rank. Because these status symbols are relatively low cost from a biological standpoint, scientists have long wondered why there aren't more fakers--that is, low-ranking individuals masquerading as high-ranking ones--in the wild. Findings detailed in the current issue of Nature indicate that lowly wasps with experimentally altered markings were targets of considerable aggression when exposed to a dominant individual, hence revealing the cost of cheating.
It find it so interesting that social stability would be so desired an outcome in a species that a system of hierarchy somehow became a part of its genetics. I'd like to ask the authors of the study a ton of questions.
This article would probably fall under the "proving-life's-not-fair-after-all category."
Anyway, here's the article:
November 15, 2004
FEMALE PAPER WASPS have distinctive black facial markings that correlate with their rank. Because these status symbols are relatively low cost from a biological standpoint, scientists have long wondered why there aren't more fakers--that is, low-ranking individuals masquerading as high-ranking ones--in the wild. Findings detailed in the current issue of Nature indicate that lowly wasps with experimentally altered markings were targets of considerable aggression when exposed to a dominant individual, hence revealing the cost of cheating.
posted by Anonymous at
10:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home