owlsie
in
wtf_nature
bdelloid rotifers
Got some parasites? Try dessicating and drifting away on the wind. It's foolproof!
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They haven't had sex in some 30 million years, but some very small invertebrates named bdelloid rotifers should have gone extinct long ago. Cornell researchers have discovered the secret to their evolutionary longevity: they are microscopic escape artists.
"These animals have evolved a way to avoid parasites and pathogens by drying up and blowing away," said Paul Sherman, Cornell professor of neurobiology and behavior.
"These animals are essentially playing an evolutionary game of hide and seek," said Sherman. "They can drift on the wind to colonize parasite-free habitat patches where they reproduce rapidly and depart again before their enemies catch up. This effectively enables them to evade biotic enemies without sex, using mechanisms that no other known animals can duplicate."
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http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/02/evolutionary-hide-seek-species-avoids-extinction-by-abstaining-from-sex-for-30-million-years.html
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They haven't had sex in some 30 million years, but some very small invertebrates named bdelloid rotifers should have gone extinct long ago. Cornell researchers have discovered the secret to their evolutionary longevity: they are microscopic escape artists.
"These animals have evolved a way to avoid parasites and pathogens by drying up and blowing away," said Paul Sherman, Cornell professor of neurobiology and behavior.
"These animals are essentially playing an evolutionary game of hide and seek," said Sherman. "They can drift on the wind to colonize parasite-free habitat patches where they reproduce rapidly and depart again before their enemies catch up. This effectively enables them to evade biotic enemies without sex, using mechanisms that no other known animals can duplicate."
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http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2010/02/evolutionary-hide-seek-species-avoids-extinction-by-abstaining-from-sex-for-30-million-years.html
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