Stolen from CBC's quirks and quarks website for april 12. http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/02-03/apr12.html
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Sexy Swordtails
Listen to an mp3 of this topic or download the Ogg file. (what's ogg?)
A pair of Swordtail fish courtesy of Molly Cummings
Nature provides a curious conundrum for male animals. On one hand, they want to attract a mate. So animals will need bright colours, or a loud voice to make them obvious to females. But at the same time, they don't want to advertise their presence to predators, since this will mean they'll end up as somebody's lunch.
The Mexican swordtail fish has come up with one solution to this problem. The males of one species have a bright tail that can only be seen by the females. Predators can't see it. The trick is to have a tail that's only reflective under ultraviolet light-a part of the spectrum that's invisible to their predators. Dr. Molly Cummings is an evolutionary biologist at the University of Texas and part of the team that discovered the secret signal.
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Ain't ma nature grand?
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Sexy Swordtails
Listen to an mp3 of this topic or download the Ogg file. (what's ogg?)
A pair of Swordtail fish courtesy of Molly Cummings
Nature provides a curious conundrum for male animals. On one hand, they want to attract a mate. So animals will need bright colours, or a loud voice to make them obvious to females. But at the same time, they don't want to advertise their presence to predators, since this will mean they'll end up as somebody's lunch.
The Mexican swordtail fish has come up with one solution to this problem. The males of one species have a bright tail that can only be seen by the females. Predators can't see it. The trick is to have a tail that's only reflective under ultraviolet light-a part of the spectrum that's invisible to their predators. Dr. Molly Cummings is an evolutionary biologist at the University of Texas and part of the team that discovered the secret signal.
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Ain't ma nature grand?
