Beetles are dying while trying to get it on with discarded brown beer bottles, according to research conducted by Darryl Gwynne, a University of Toronto Mississauga professor.
It's a case of mistaken attraction, because the beer bottles happen to possess all of the features that drive male Australian "jewel beetles" wild. They're big and orangey brown in color, with a slightly dimpled surface near the bottom (designed to prevent the bottle from slipping out of one's grasp) that reflects light in much the same way as female wing covers. As a result, the beer bottles are irresistible to the male insects, which will die trying to mate with them in the hot Australian sun.
The bottles resemble a "super female" jewel beetle. Male beetles are so captivated by the bottles that they will gird their loins and go through the expected motions, refusing to leave until they fry to death, are consumed by hungry ants, or are physically removed by researchers.
The male beetles are very particular about the bottles. Beer cans or wine bottles do nothing for them. It's all about the shape, color and texture and has nothing to do with booze. As the researchers wrote in their findings, "Not only do western Australians never dispose of a beer bottle with beer still in it, but many of the bottles had sand and detritus accumulated over many months."
While the researchers obviously see the humor in all of this, there's a serious message too. The findings demonstrate how our garbage not only litters landscapes but can also directly affect the populations of other species. This also points out that the research supports a theory of sexual selection: that males of certain species, in their eagerness to mate, are often the ones making mating mistakes.
http://news.yahoo.com/why-beetles-sex-beer-bottles-q-scientists-200203561.html
Posted by Whitney Huynh (8)
This just makes me view the male jewel beetles as desperate drunks. As funny as it may be, it is sad to see the direct impact our waste can have on other species. However, this could be viewed as natural selection: does nature really want beetles that cannot differentiate a beer bottle from their own kind reproducing? Obviously not. It is a question of whether you want to include human influence on the environment as a natural contribution. Most people do not do this, however.
ReplyDeleteYou can decide for yourself.
Posted by Chelsea Van Thof.
This research really shows how strong the impulse to mate is in animals. These beetles are disregarding hunger and heat and predation to the point of death, just because they are continuously humping what they perceive to be a female. The urge to pass on their genes overrides any other survival instincts.
ReplyDeletePosted by Rhys Ursuliak
I wonder if juvenile jewel beetles also mistake beer bottles for adults? Would they go up to a beer bottle and beg it for food? (Do jewel beetles feed their young anyway?) It would be sad if not only the reproductive success, but also juvenile survival, was negatively impacted by human trash...
ReplyDeletePosted by Johanna Brophy
This is yet another post about humans' negative impact on the earth. I guess beer bottles have all of the required signals of that of a female beetles, which attract the male flies. This is kind of like our lecture about the red-breasted nuthatch, and just the torso is enough to break the threshold of being enough of a visual signal. As interesting as this is, this is still sad to see these beetles die because of human activity.
ReplyDeletePosted by Michael Shi
I was stunned when I first heard about this phenomenon. I had no idea that the reason they can mistake a bottle for their female is that they have certain releasers which can be rather general. For example, orange color, large and dimpled. In fact, the larger the better since this would mean a very fit female. This sort of mentality would be a result of evolution never encountering another species or object that looks like their female so there was no need to make their releaser more specialized.
ReplyDeletePosted by Caroline Adams
Basically Caroline answered the questions of evolution and natural selection. But on a lighter note the company that made the beer bottle changed the bottle since they heard that beetles were dying but then they recently changed the bottle back. So sad.
ReplyDeleteThis also makes me think about that beetle that kills trees which affects humans.
Posted by Whitney Huynh
Its surprising to me that these beetles rely only on visual and texture cues when attracting a mate. Many species of insects rely heavily on pheromones in mate attraction, and i wonder if this play a role in the jewel beetles mating. Perhaps the beer bottle gives off a similar odor that the beetles recognize? Or perhaps the beetles ignore smell and rely on other cues. Whatever the case, this is a very odd yet sad mistake made on the male's behalf. It goes to show that our actions can negatively affect the lives of other creatures that we share this world with.
ReplyDeletePosted by Sara Corey
This is a very interesting article that these beetles would be attracted to the beer bottle. It shows the simple minded qualities of these beetles (not trying to be rude to the beetles). That natural selection for big brown females is so high quality for males to seek that there is a mistaken in identity. Apparently natural selection didn't factor in alien items to these beetles (beer bottle).
ReplyDeleteby Andrew Ryan
This is shocking! How then do people still wonder whether or not our carelessness for the environment plays a negative effect to those we share the planet with? This also show's the primitive minds of these insects, for one would imagine a more conscious mentality that perhaps this may not be of the same species, let alone a living organism itself. Conceptual conscious thought may perhaps be an exclusive attribute to a select few species in the world. I guess it's true that, for some males, the urge of mating will be the death of them. -_-
ReplyDeleteComment by Jose Mijangos