(Darwin Day 2024)
Slime molds and glowworms, tongue-eating crustaceans, gall tumors, sea angels, and strap-toothed cetaceans, parasite yew trees and old termite kings, these are a few of my favorite things.
Cyclopes created by skewed gene expression [1], scavengers sharing their feast in succession, moths that paint droppings and flies on their wings, these are a few of my favorite things. Paradox tadpoles and immortal jellies, pandoravirus, and whatever the hell is the Ediacaran fauna and its lobes, frills, and rings: these are a few of my favorite things. When I mourn in time the poor thylacine Or the golden toad I remember there's mold that grows its own eyes And that those eyes explode Fifty thousand spiders, and one's vegetarian; there's bees that make honey with flesh from a carrion; [2] some fish walk on grass, the sand shark eats its twins; these are a few of my favorite things. Fairyfly wasps are outsized by bacteria; male anglerfish melt into female posteriors; plant-toilets and frogs that keep eggs in their skins; [3] these are a few of my favorite things. The Cambrian Explosion, the Permian Extinction, all species radiating in finer distinction, a fondness for beetles (though one burns and one stings), these are a few of my favorite things. When a pigeon's death our biosphere bereaves Or a huge sea cow's Know there's a vine that can copy others' leaves And no one knows how...[1] Be careful about clicking on this link and going further; some of the pictures are nasty. [2] Well, kinda. The sugars in the actual honey are still of plant origin, although not nectar, though it is then mixed with a jelly produced from rotting meat. [3] I'm told some people find this disturbing as well.
