Not-so-tasty partner
Posted on 02/22/2010 10:51:30 AM PST by JoeProBono
Female sexual cannibals do not find their male partners particularly tasty. Relative to their normal prey, male spiders are not very nutritious, and females only eat their mates if they are starving, researchers have found.
That suggests that, among spiders at least, hunger is not the main driving force that compels females to eat their partners after sex.
The finding by scientists at Miami University, US is published in the journal Oecologia. Cannibalism is a behaviour that has long intrigued biologists.
Males are a less nutritionally balanced food item for females than other prey Spider expert Dr Shawn Wilder Miami University, Ohio Yet it remains poorly understood. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain it; for example, it helps reduce competition or it occurs as a result of mistaken identity.
However, the most studied idea is that a member of the same species is the perfect meal, as it contains all the nutrients an animal has in its own body, and therefore needs. Yet there is conflicting evidence about the benefits of becoming a cannibal. So Dr Shawn Wilder and Professor Ann Rypstra of Miami University in Hamilton, Ohio investigated just how nutritious a meal a male wolf spider is for a female.
This species (Hogna helluo) is abundant in agricultural areas of the mid-western US. The spiders, which live for up to two years, do not build webs, but lie in wait for their prey. After around one in three matings, a female wolf spider will eat the male.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Not-so-tasty partner
—where would we be without researchers?
Maybe they are partial to one night stands...
.
But enough about The View.....
Just like many human wives! After they catch a mate they find him distasteful!
Last summer I killed what had to be the biggest black widow I’ve ever seen, it was huge. And there in the web was the dead male. It was ghastly!
Coming for dinner?
Hence, the lesson to men is to take your wife to dinner before trying to mate with her.
Wheres the picture of Rosie O’Donuts?
(o_O)
Real reason is male spiders do not pay child support or alimony. Therefore, of no use to the female.
parsy, the jaded
LMAO!!!! Oh my....
Too much on an empty stomach!
They haven't heard of child support.
A warning would be nice.....
excuse me...... urp.......
Moo.
Among spiders at least.
Among spiders at least?
Moo, bang, prenup. Hell,forgive me, I went to engineering college... what does it all mean?
Someone? Anyone? Buehler?
females only eat their mates if they are starving... That suggests that... hunger is not the main driving force that compels females to eat their partners after sex...y'know, to morons. :'D WTF... Thanks JoeProBono.
I like spiders.
So do I, actually. And so do my cats. (But in an entirely different manner.)
My cats are why I keep a spider-rescue glass for my catch-and-release program. Our new house has a very large basement, and the cats aren’t allowed (too many places to hide), so the spiders have a sanctuary for the winter.
The cats have to make do with our infestation of lady bugs.
Yeah, they aren’t making their point very well are they? I’m confoosed.
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