Friday, November 22, 2013

The Wonders of Evolution...and Ultrarunning

Ran into this article--of course--in Boing Boing.  As I always say when I credit something from Boing Boing, if you don't visit this site at least a couple times a week, your life is poorer:




A recently discovered G tridens fruitfly that has evolved to have images of detailed, ant-like insects on each wing, complete with six legs, a thorax, antennae and a tapered abdomen. The fly uses the images defensively, waving them back and forth when threatened to create the illusion of massing ants.

This critter is in Oman, in the Middle East.  I am in awe of the way that evolution can press things to the extreme, all under the mechanism of natural selection.

The link to Ultrarunning is that I once read that canids (the greater dog family) and humans are the only trotting carnivores ever evolved on the planet.

So it seems our love of running is built-in, and we have good company.

 

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