Saturday, January 04, 2014
Clone car
Aphids are stupid by any standard, even compared to most other insects. Their intelligence and adaptability comes from an unmatched ability to choose different life cycles.
The default aphid is female. In some conditions she turns out live-birthed direct copies of herself at a remarkable rate. Under different conditions she switches some of those copies into males that can fly elsewhere to spread her genes. Under different conditions she has sex with a male from a different location and lays eggs like most insects.
This BBC clip is time-lapsed, but not all that much. The cloned copies are fully developed aphids about 1/4 the size of the female. In the clip they seem to be emerging from the female's rear end every few seconds. In reality they emerge every 20 minutes during a birthing process.
Makes you wonder why mammals spend weeks or months growing a baby. It can be done in 20 minutes!
Labels: Grand Blueprint
¶ 6:06 AM
