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I've seen a few fireflies buzzing around the area at night. The ones I've seen have been near the roads. And it makes me feel bad for them. They depend on their lights to find each other, and here they are being flooded with streetlights and car headlights and all sorts of other artificial light and light pollution. It must make things so much harder for them.
And yet, somehow, they're doing it. Clearly. Because those lights have been there for years, and the fireflies are still around.
But it also makes me wonder what it was like when fireflies first evolved. "Hey, baby! Mate with me! I can make my butt glow!" And, somehow, that worked.
But then that got me thinking about how evolution got sidetracked. Firefly mating is, as far as I know, largely based on the glowing butt. Which serves little to no other purpose. Which, in all likelihood, actually serves to attract predators like... well, like a beacon in the night.
It's kind of like the birds of paradise, which have all sorts of bizarre and complex mating displays. Like this:
One of dozens of species classified as "birds of paradise," each with its own unique mating display. That black oval with the strange neon smiley face is a bird, about the size and shape of the brown female looking at him. Except that, in hopes of mating, he has puffed out a special ruff of feathers which exists solely for this purpose. The female will look at it. She'll consider it for a while. If she's impressed, she'll mate with him. If not, she'll fly off. Either way, once mating season has passed and the girls stop looking, he'll put it away for the rest of the year. Because it's not good for anything else.
In a way, it's cool. Because you get all these beautiful things. Fireflies, birds of paradise, peacocks, and so on. But it's strange. Evolution is supposed to be about survival of the fittest. And instead of leading to useful adaptations (which it generally does) here are cases where it leads to day-glo makeup and boob jobs and setting your butt on fire for no better reason than to attract girls. (Which, granted, is a pretty good reason. But it's not how the system is supposed to work.)
It's a strange, beautiful world we live in.
And yet, somehow, they're doing it. Clearly. Because those lights have been there for years, and the fireflies are still around.
But it also makes me wonder what it was like when fireflies first evolved. "Hey, baby! Mate with me! I can make my butt glow!" And, somehow, that worked.
But then that got me thinking about how evolution got sidetracked. Firefly mating is, as far as I know, largely based on the glowing butt. Which serves little to no other purpose. Which, in all likelihood, actually serves to attract predators like... well, like a beacon in the night.
It's kind of like the birds of paradise, which have all sorts of bizarre and complex mating displays. Like this:
One of dozens of species classified as "birds of paradise," each with its own unique mating display. That black oval with the strange neon smiley face is a bird, about the size and shape of the brown female looking at him. Except that, in hopes of mating, he has puffed out a special ruff of feathers which exists solely for this purpose. The female will look at it. She'll consider it for a while. If she's impressed, she'll mate with him. If not, she'll fly off. Either way, once mating season has passed and the girls stop looking, he'll put it away for the rest of the year. Because it's not good for anything else.
In a way, it's cool. Because you get all these beautiful things. Fireflies, birds of paradise, peacocks, and so on. But it's strange. Evolution is supposed to be about survival of the fittest. And instead of leading to useful adaptations (which it generally does) here are cases where it leads to day-glo makeup and boob jobs and setting your butt on fire for no better reason than to attract girls. (Which, granted, is a pretty good reason. But it's not how the system is supposed to work.)
It's a strange, beautiful world we live in.
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(http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg106)
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South Americano, it's South Africa, whereas the birds are from a small island in New Guinea.)From:
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And as always, I love the way you look at things, very insightful and with a pinch of humour in your wording. :)
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And thanks. :)
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And, you're welcome. ;)