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Jackie
Veteran Poster
Username: Jackie
Post Number: 603
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 02:32 pm: | 
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ARIS (AFP) - Advice on how to score with the ladies would probably never include the strategy that works best for at least one species of male spider: playing dead.
Not all male nursery web spiders looking for a little arachnid sex adopt this technique, but those that do more than double their chances of hitting the jackpot, according to new study in Behavioral Ecology, reported Wednesday in the British magazine New Scientist.
In experiments designed by Trine Bilde of the University of Aaarhus in Denmark, researchers set up date-and-mate opportunities for Pisaura mirabilis, a species native to Europe.
All the males sought to attract partners by offering a gift of food, held in the mouth.
But the ones that lay flat and motionless -- even if meant getting dragged about by a female that had latched onto the victuals -- wound up in a much better position, as it were, to engage in sexual activity.
The hapless males that tried the direct approach wound up keeping the free meal but not getting what they were really after.
Males that played dead were also allowed to copulate longer than males that did not, ensuring more eggs could fertilized, the researchers reported.
Playing dead is a well-known defence mechanism in nature, but this is apparently the first time such behaviour has been observed as a strategy for obtaining sexual favours. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11773
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 03:06 pm: |
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Jackie
Veteran Poster
Username: Jackie
Post Number: 604
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 03, 2008 - 04:42 pm: |
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Here's an interesting comment from one of my female friends regarding this article:
"That's just like females. They ignore the 'true brotha,' but the one with game not only gets the female but gets to 'copulate longer'. And the female spider even has the nerve to drag the male playing dead along, pulling dead weight. Just how we do in real life.I laughed when I read the title. That's an interesting article." |
Libralind2
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 1016
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 11:49 am: |
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I was SO releived to see Yvette didnt post this
LiLi |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 11791
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 04:23 pm: |
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Maybe we should give equal time to black widow spiders. As they say, the female is the deadlier of the species. These creatures just kill their babies' daddies after they've become impregnanted. Guess they figure they don't need those suckers after they've served their purpose.
Sorry, Li-Li. Where ya been, girlfriend? How's your new great-grandchild and your new main squeeze? |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2747
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 09:51 pm: |
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LOL @ LiLi.
Welllll, lemme look and see what I can drum up just for you... |
Yvettep
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 2750
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 10:00 pm: |
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Aight, done!
BTW, ditto Cynique: how's that new little baby (and new big Baby ;-) ) doing? |
Jackie
Veteran Poster
Username: Jackie
Post Number: 606
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 04, 2008 - 10:22 pm: |
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LiLi- is there something we should know ?
snicker... |
Libralind2
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 1018
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 09, 2008 - 12:47 am: |
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Nooooo Jackie roflll..Welllll Cyn, main squeeze is no mo..moving on....but the great grand is growing like she drinks miracle grow LOL Ive been werking on da plantation...and I be so tird when I gets home LOL
LiLi |
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