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What these scientists hypothesize goes far beyond the realm of cannibalism and into the very mechanisms of evolution itself. Their claim is that the appearance of new traits in a population, generally regarded as a first step toward the evolution of new species, can occur by means other than the accumulation of micromutations (i.e., small-scale or highly localized mutations), the classic mechanism by which new traits, and eventually new species, are thought to appear. Some researchers now believe that given generations, novel traits originating as examples of phenotypic plasticity have the
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these scientists are rarely celebrated for what they got right, and are, instead, derided for what they got wrong.
Another way to consider this is to think of the class Pisces as a mosaic—composed of a suite of more recently evolved, vertebrate traits (like a vertebral column and larger brain) but still retaining some invertebrate characteristics.
for every million eggs produced by an Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), approximately one egg will result in an adult fish.
As such, it serves as a prime example of how cannibalism can benefit the individual being cannibalized.
the behavior in black widows was actually a rare occurrence. They determined that not only did most male spiders depart unharmed after copulation, but some of them lived in the female’s web for several weeks, even sharing her prey. “The supposed aggressiveness of the female spider toward the male is largely a myth,” said spider expert Rainer Foelix. “When a female is ready for mating, there is little danger for the male.”
In male spiders, the pedipalps are modified for transferring sperm to the female’s body, a chore necessitated by the fact that spiders lack penises. Furthermore, there is no internal connection between the pedipalps and the testes, which are located within the abdomen. Instead, sperm is initially extruded from a furrow on the male’s abdomen into a spun receptacle called a sperm web. As a male dips his pedipalps into the pooled sperm, a pair of coiled structures called emboli and their associated muscles work like tiny turkey basters to suck up the liquid and store it until copulation.
For the snails, the high hook-up ratio stems from the fact that most of the participants are simultaneous hermaphrodites, enabling them to exchange sperm while at the same time having their own eggs fertilized.
An even more cringeworthy behavior is exhibited by banana slugs (genus Ariolimax), which become so entwined during sex that they sometimes chew off their partner’s corkscrew-shaped penis in an effort to disengage. During this process, which is known as apophallation, penises are slurped down spaghetti-style, occasionally by their owners.
“I think that the Cupid myth arose from Ancient Greeks observing snails mating and shooting love darts,”
The results of a study on golden hamsters in the wild emphasized the major differences between natural conditions and those imposed on pet hamsters. For example, the researchers determined that in the wild, the average time hamsters spent on the surface during a 24-hour period was 87 minutes.
As a result, bulked up, hyper-aggressive females dominate every interaction with their male counterparts, with males even coming up short in the external genitalia department. Female hyenas develop a remarkably elongated clitoris, which resembles a longer version of the penis. Additionally, the normally liplike vulva is fused closed, thus enabling females to urinate through their pseudopenises (or pseudopenes), the tips of which are also penetrated by the Real McCoy during copulation.
Large, full-term hyena fetuses must pass through the clitoris, which, if things proceed smoothly, causes it to tear open. Reportedly, stillbirths and instances of maternal mortality during delivery are high, but after the successful birth of the first litter, the clitoris never fully closes again,
Stannard believes that by the end of the 16th century, the Spanish had been directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of between 60 and 80 million indigenous people in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. Even if one were to discount the millions of deaths resulting from diseases, this would still make the Spanish conquest of the New World the greatest act of genocide in recorded history.
“Unfortunately, people’s memories seem remarkably retentive when it comes to misinformation,” Johnson told me. “And once a falsehood or garbled story gets out, it’s difficult to dislodge.
