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Speaking of animals, there's a cool article in today's New York Times about camouflage in cephalopods.
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Cuttlefish camouflage
Wow! Neat article! I had no idea cuttlefish were so sophisticated. I loved this bit:
"A male cuttlefish will typically guard several females from other challengers. He does not often have physical fights. It is enough for him to put on a powerful visual display.
"But if another male disguises its skin to look female, he can sneak up to the guarded female and mate. The sneaky male’s disguise may be so good that the other male may try to guard him as part of his harem."
Sounds like th old Leslie Howard trick. Howard was the British actor who played the title role in The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Ashley in Gone with the Wind. Because he was slender, British, and un-macho, a lot of female actors assumed he was gay—right up until they woke up in bed next to him.
I guess there's more to cuttlefish than providing a bone for a parakeet's cage.
"A male cuttlefish will typically guard several females from other challengers. He does not often have physical fights. It is enough for him to put on a powerful visual display.
"But if another male disguises its skin to look female, he can sneak up to the guarded female and mate. The sneaky male’s disguise may be so good that the other male may try to guard him as part of his harem."
Sounds like th old Leslie Howard trick. Howard was the British actor who played the title role in The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Ashley in Gone with the Wind. Because he was slender, British, and un-macho, a lot of female actors assumed he was gay—right up until they woke up in bed next to him.
I guess there's more to cuttlefish than providing a bone for a parakeet's cage.