Comments on: One Species, Ten Patterns? Why Poison Dart Frogs Dress Differently http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/11/08/one-species-ten-patterns-why-poison-dart-frogs-dress-differently/ 80beats is DISCOVER's news aggregator, weaving together the choicest tidbits from the best articles covering the day's most compelling topics. Thu, 24 May 2012 03:45:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Iain http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/11/08/one-species-ten-patterns-why-poison-dart-frogs-dress-differently/comment-page-1/#comment-2494550 Iain Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:53:01 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=33180#comment-2494550 in which a pattern or trait of no particular prominence is cemented into place by pressures from the surrounding environment This got me to thinking about human beauty and conformity and how we are far more comfortable with 'similar' than odd or bizarre. Just look at how skateboarders, punks, goths, emo's are automatically judged to be undesirables. Maybe our brains are wired to accept the normal and reject or marginalize the abnormal. Something we share with the frogs and perhaps all species. So the outies have to mate among themselves causing subspecisation. in which a pattern or trait of no particular prominence is cemented into place by pressures from the surrounding environment

This got me to thinking about human beauty and conformity and how we are far more comfortable with ‘similar’ than odd or bizarre. Just look at how skateboarders, punks, goths, emo’s are automatically judged to be undesirables.
Maybe our brains are wired to accept the normal and reject or marginalize the abnormal.
Something we share with the frogs and perhaps all species.
So the outies have to mate among themselves causing subspecisation.

]]> By: Veronique Greenwood http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/11/08/one-species-ten-patterns-why-poison-dart-frogs-dress-differently/comment-page-1/#comment-2483158 Veronique Greenwood Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:46:25 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=33180#comment-2483158 Good question! Most of the clay frogs were not actually eaten by the attacking birds. The researcher went around at 24-hr intervals to look for marks of predation--signs that birds had attacked the models, like gouges on either side where talons struck the earth. While about 14% of the models were missing or eaten by ants or roaches (apparently there are some giant roaches in the Peruvian rain forest!), the rest were still where the researcher had left them, but with marks from talons on them or around them. It was by counting those marks that he came up with his numbers about predation on the various types. When the experiment was done, the models were gathered up and removed from the forest. Good question! Most of the clay frogs were not actually eaten by the attacking birds. The researcher went around at 24-hr intervals to look for marks of predation–signs that birds had attacked the models, like gouges on either side where talons struck the earth. While about 14% of the models were missing or eaten by ants or roaches (apparently there are some giant roaches in the Peruvian rain forest!), the rest were still where the researcher had left them, but with marks from talons on them or around them. It was by counting those marks that he came up with his numbers about predation on the various types. When the experiment was done, the models were gathered up and removed from the forest.

]]> By: Victoria Kostadinova http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/11/08/one-species-ten-patterns-why-poison-dart-frogs-dress-differently/comment-page-1/#comment-2482808 Victoria Kostadinova Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:27:28 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/?p=33180#comment-2482808 Amazing! But we can't help thinking--what happened to all those little clay frogs, the birds that tired to eat them? Amazing! But we can’t help thinking–what happened to all those little clay frogs, the birds that tired to eat them?

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