#585-588 Animal Teamwork (Mutualism) Week
Fun Fact #585
Leap-Frogging The Food Web
When you think of South America you may think of Forrest's, THe Amazon and maybe even the fact it's the world’s largest producer of Sugar and Coffee. Yet to the west of the Andes Mountains in the heartland of what was once The Inca Highlands empire you may discover something far more down to earth. The Dotted Humming Frog.
Now while this may seem like just another frog, it does have an odd habit of living in Tarantula. The Frog benefits from the Tarantual eating most of the (adult) Frog’s Natural predators, and receives a burrow from which it spends most of its life fat and happy –even in the event Tarantula leaves. Don’t worry though as The Frog pays rent by secreting a special chemical which acts like an Antimicrobial for The Trarantula’s eggs, and even attracts the Frog’s predators keeping the Tarantula well fed. This chemical also allows the Tarantula to identify The Frog’s species and will eat any frog which does not have the chemical.
As always thanks for reading and please have a wonderful day!
Before you ask, Yes I used art instead of an actual photo because Aracnaphobia (Fear of spiders) is the most common fear on the planet affecting as much as 15% of the population in some places (closest study I could find said around 11% of people living in Chicago are known to have this fear). The Image is from Chaobunnyarts on instagram.
#586
Dentist-sea
Deep in the Sea there too exist several wonders both manmade and Natrual, and if you look at the Tropics you can sometimes sea a Flat-headed fish setting up its own shop (of sorts) where it cleans the Parasites and dead scales off other fish, and even cleaning the teeth of Sharks (and knocking out loose teeth). This Fish Dentistry is known as The Remora, a type of of SuckerFish from the family Echeneidae.
Now these fish are not total suckers, by cleaning these other fish they get a steady supply of food and help prolong the fish's lives. They often stay in these areas until Dolphins kick them out (Dolphins have sensitive skin which is irritated by Suckerfish)
Yet most don’t operate like this, instead attaching themselves to specific species by their wide and flat dorsal fins acting like a suction cup. Thus they get to take vacations (of a sort) being ferried around the ocean while getting a steady source of food. This only really backfires for Sea Turtles as occasionally fishermen will hunt them by tying a rope to a sucker fishes’ tail, release it to attach to a turtle then pull it up with the turtle unable to escape unless the sucker can't attach properly due to previous damage to its shell.
#587
The Flocks and Stripes
The saying goes that WHen Life Gives you Lemons you make Lemonade right? Normally when you put two species with the same food source, and style of foraging together one would get squeezed out of the competition (and Life), but Zebras and Ostriches defy this notion by coming together for a fruitful pairing.
You see Ostriches have the biggest eyes of any land mammal, which combined with their long necks, allow them to see and alert their “Flock” to incoming predators. Their Faster speed (43mph on average) allows them to respond to threats faster and keep pace with Zebras (36mph). Meanwhile The Zebra have some of the best ears and tastebuds of any of the Equidae Family members (Horses and Donkeys) allowing them to hear oncoming threats, and safely determine if food is edible. Zebras can also sleep standing up, and will often form a “Ring of Protection” around where Ostrich eggs are with Zebra Foals (babies) making the innermost ring to help obscure and block their young from predators. Additionally It is also theorized that Ostriches adopted their White and Black coloring to better Camouflage within a Zebra Herd but this is still unproven.
(image from Istock)
#588
The HoneyDew List
Ants can be found 6 of the 7 Continents and are known for their industrious nature by forming vast nests, networks and even farms (Looking at you leaf cutter ants). Yet one thing makes them a threat to Gardens everywhere: Their habit of farming Aphids.
Aphids are a small sap-sucking insect which produce a sweet sugar rich waste known as honeydew which can be of great use to ants. Thus the Ants farm and protect the Aphids even storing aphid eggs in their burrows for winter. Heck some species of Black Crazy ants have even been known to trade Aphid eggs with scientists theorizing it’s to ensure aphid populations don't get inbred! For both insects this is an amazing deal but to Gardeners it is a losing proposition as out of control aphids results in ever increasing damage to plants –sometimes referred to as “The Yellow WIlt”.
The problem lays with just how fast Aphids reproduce, as for most of the year Female Aphids get pregnant asexually (on their own) and give birth to live young which in turn are already pregnant –a trait known as Telescoping Generations– allowing them to explode in population as long as a ready food source is nearby. Only in the fall do they reproduce with males to lay eggs which can survive the winter. This has proven to be such a disaster that gardeners have a myriad of different strategies of dealing with them. Although Gene Roddenberry has perhaps the most unique way of releasing his frustration on these tiny terrors as after his personal appletree was destroyed by Woolly Aphids (Eriosoma lanigerum) he complained about it to David Gerrold who tfound the situation humerous. Later David wrote the Star Trek episode: “The Trouble With Tribbles” using Aphids as a basis for the fictional animals and the plot was modified from the short story "Pigs is Pigs" written by Ellis Butler (the plot was guineapigs run rampant in a grain warehouse after they tried starting and lost control of a Guinea Pig breeding program to sell to locals. )
As Always thanks for reading and please have a wonderful day.
Wolly Aphids on an Apple Tree (Above)Start Treck Tribbles (Below)
