You Learn Something New Every Day

[zero000]

Snails can sleep for three to four years until the climate becomes more suitable for them.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Unluckily for them I stepped on 4 of them on the way home from the pub last night...

[zero000]

I suppose the fact that they went in their sleep and will not have known a thing about it is something. Did you have to go much out of your way to terminate their existences?

Edited October 26, 2013 by zero000

[swede]

It is against the law to pay for things over the cost of 20p in just one or two pence coins. My wife told me today after buying some petrol, so I googled it and its true.

[feral chile]

It was dark and I was drunk, they ran out into my path okay! *sobs*

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

It was dark and I was drunk, they ran out into my path okay! *sobs*

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

That reminds me of a caravanning holiday, and a late night visit to the stone toilet block, with my daughter. As we were going in, she was looking back saying something, and I could see the most enormous spider careering towards her. I urgently told her to stand still. Which unfortunately had the effect of her slamming her foot down in mid step, to put an immediate halt to her movements.

you know the end of this story

[feral chile]

I once drove (not fast) over a hump backed bridge at night on a very minor country back road in Northumberland. As I drove over the top bit I saw a lovely white owl on the ground in front of me eating some road kill from the previous car that had recently passed that way ( I presume). Anyway, the last I saw of it was it bouncing off the windscreen of my car with a particularly nasty thud. I hadn't done anything wrong but it did upset me.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I wonder if animals will ever evolve fear of cars in the same way as they evolve fear of predators? We had to stop today to let some ducks dawdle across the road.

[zero000]

They are not exactly known for their ability to run, but if it's any consolation you did the right thing. There is no doubt in my mind that they were out that late at night because they were planning a blag of some nature.

[MrZigster]

I once drove (not fast) over a hump backed bridge at night on a very minor country back road in Northumberland. As I drove over the top bit I saw a lovely white owl on the ground in front of me eating some road kill from the previous car that had recently passed that way ( I presume). Anyway, the last I saw of it was it bouncing off the windscreen of my car with a particularly nasty thud. I hadn't done anything wrong but it did upset me.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

They were definitely loitering with intent, thinking they were all hard with their shells. Dicks.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

It still upsets me that the only time I have seen an alive badger is just before one ran under my offside front wheel on the way back from a Rush concert about a decade ago. I've seen plenty on the telly and dead by the side of the road due to things like the previous, but that is still the only time I have seen a live badger.

[kaosmark2]

I wonder if animals will ever evolve fear of cars in the same way as they evolve fear of predators? We had to stop today to let some ducks dawdle across the road.

[feral chile]

It wouldn't be "evolve" so much as just learning and recognition. Nothing in terms of DNA could/would happen except over a period of millenia, by which time we'll have almost certainly moved on from cars.

[zero000]

Yeah I have trouble with evolution, I always thought it pretty much had to be a gradual genetic mutation. But then I saw something about wolves becoming dogs in a human lifetime, and we didn't domesticate them, they did it themselves - is that evolution?

[feral chile]

I thought we did domesticate wolves? In that the "friendliest" most risk adverse wolves (the 0.1% or whatever), started hanging around human settlements to eat the carcasses of animals we had discarded and over time this bred certain traits and physical features into the animals. With the reason this relationship developed being the fact that it was mutually beneficial for both wolves and humans as it enabled them to both hunt more effectively.

In fact there's a really fascinating experiment still I think ongoing in Russia, which has attempted to replicate this process. Basically they bought a whole load of silver foxes from fur traders and attempted to domesticate the animals by selectively breeding the animals which were "friendliest" to humans and approached them the most. The results are pretty mind blowing and you can even buy a silver fox online!

[zero000]

yes, I meant that it happened naturally, within a relatively short time period, without humans actively breeding them selectively. So although humans were involved, only in the sense of environmental adaptation rather than direct intervention.

[feral chile]

Have you got a link by any chance? I'd be interested to be read about it.

Edited October 28, 2013 by feral chile

[zero000]

well I saw it on a documentary, but a lot of what was discussed also seems to be in here:

http://www.icr.org/article/6494/

and here:

http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2013/03/130302-dog-domestic-evolution-science-wolf-wolves-human/

[TalkShow Bob]

It wouldn't be "evolve" so much as just learning and recognition. Nothing in terms of DNA could/would happen except over a period of millenia, by which time we'll have almost certainly moved on from cars.

Edited October 28, 2013 by TalkShow Bob

[kaosmark2]

Thats simply not true. Evolution is not a slow process it can happen astonishingly quickly. It depends on the

That’s not always true. Evolution is not always a slow process it can happen astonishingly quickly. It depends on the legh of a species lifecycle. For instance in this case animals are evolving as a result of cars. Apparently there are two types of hedgehogs, one type has shorter stumpy legs and rolls up when its threatened. The other has longer legs and runs away from dangers. The former are getting squashed a lot on the roads so the latter is becoming by far the dominant variant of hedgehog.

My house mate told me about some fish in America that evolved to survive in murky polluted water, then they cleaned the river they lived in and they evolved back to be clean water fish. This process took about 40 years or so all in all.

legh of a species lifecyle but

[TalkShow Bob]

It takes numerous generations. If there's a particular genetic trait like the hedgehog one with major selectivity it can be just a few, but animals would not evolve "fear of cars".

[feral chile]

It takes numerous generations. If there's a particular genetic trait like the hedgehog one with major selectivity it can be just a few, but animals would not evolve "fear of cars".

Edited October 28, 2013 by feral chile

[feral chile]

The thing is I think instinctual fear, I would guess the only fear that is evolved, is all to do with situations and movement anyway. They would already be scared of the sound and movement. I cant see them ever being scared of a parked car, unless they got hit by a car and learnt that they could do it.