Posted on 05/13/2009 2:55:04 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Earwig mothers sniff out their "best" offspring and lavish them with care, according to new research. The insects pick up odours from their clutch of "nymphs" and adjust their maternal behaviour in response. When they pick up a chemical signal from healthy, well-fed youngsters, they spend more time nursing them, at the expense of their hungrier babies. The study, which is the first to show this behaviour in insects, is published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Earwig parenting, it seems, is about favouritism; the standard of care drops dramatically when mums pick up the chemical signals from hungry, unhealthy nymphs. In these cases, the adults invest less time and effort in feeding. The researchers, who expected to see the opposite result, suggest that this could be "because the insects look for signals of quality instead of need".
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
“To Each According To Their Need” doesn’t apply in the real world, I suppose...
Doesn’t seem to make a difference what the mother does. They’re still insects with a fossil record dating back to the Jurassic. You’d think they’d improve with a characteristic like that.
And then they move into my house.
When you have one billion offspring, they can’t all be the cat’s pajamas.
and the weakest earwigs go to die in the bracts of my artichokes when I boil or steam them...
obviously the mothers of congress members did not have this skill.
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