Wild Things: Mongooses, Bladderworts and More...
Fairy-wrens, wasps, and a nearly 3,000 year old big toe
- By T.A. Frail, Megan Gambino, Laura Helmuth, Jesse Rhodes and Sarah Zielinski
- Smithsonian magazine, April 2011
Splendid Fairy-wren (Malurus splendens splendens) calling. (Steven David Miller / NaturePL.com)
Male splendid fairy-wrens sing a special song when they hear the call of a butcherbird, their predator. The behavior would seem to paint a target on the fairy-wren. But University of Chicago scientists report the males are actually issuing a mating call. They are choosing a moment when fearful females are most attentive, the researchers found. The effect may be like that of a scary movie on humans, in which fear brings a date closer.
Learn more about splendid fairy wrens at the Encyclopedia of Life.
Additional Sources
“A Mechanical Signal Biases Caste Development in a Social Wasp,” Sainath Suryanarayanan et al., Current Biology, January 20, 2011
“Ultra-fast underwater suction traps,” Olivier Vincent et al., Proceedings of the Royal Society B, February 16, 2011
“The art of medicine: The ancient origins of prosthetic medicine,” Jacqueline Finch., The Lancet, February 12, 2011
“Danger may enhance communication: predator calls alert females to male displays,” Emma I. Greig and Stephen Pruett-Jones, Behavioral Ecology, October 12, 2010
“Reproductive competition and the evolution of extreme birth synchrony in a cooperative mammal,” S. J. Hodge et al., Biology Letters, August 4, 2010
Comments (2)
Is it possible to retrieve a video advertised in a November 2006 issue of Smithsonian Magazine? "The trap-jaw ant in action" How does this compare with the Sea creature in the April 2011 issue of Smithsonian Magazine? (Sorry, someone in the family has moved our copy for the moment.)
Posted by Janet Rathmell on April 7,2011 | 03:32 PM
Awesome photo of it's work place
Posted by Toni Aull on March 24,2011 | 07:18 PM