Love, sex, ecology (and poop!)

[Anahita]

Re: Love, sex, ecology (and poop!)

Omigod that brought back wonderful memories. I think I still have it on VHS.

Beta rocks! Don't buy VHS!

[Anonymouse]

Re: Love, sex, ecology (and poop!)

I love that movie!

I used to watch it all the time on the Disney channel as a kid.

[TomServo]

Re: Love, sex, ecology (and poop!)

I used to watch it all the time on the Disney channel as a kid.

[One-Way]

Re: Love, sex, ecology (and poop!)

Cute.

[Anahita]

Re: Love, sex, ecology (and poop!)

I typed this quickly, but this is a far better and more interesting/entertaining description than mine above. See, I didn't make this up. [Tropical Nature, Forsyth and Miyata, Fertility Chapter]

“What happens to dung on the rain forest floor is one of nature’s vast spectacles on an intimate scale, competition for a precious resource at its most intense—a battle and scramble full of color and pattern. It is simple to witness. After nature calls, do not beat a hasty, embarrassed retreat but sit quietly nearby. The earliest contestants will arrive soon after you settle down...

The later arrivals are larger and behaviorally more complex scarab beetles… Upon landing they embark on a series of maneuvers designed to secure a private cache of food that they will either eat themselves or barter for copulatory rights…Some dung scarabs, such as various Canthon species, slice off balls of dung using specially modified hind limbs, then roll their loot away from the churning battlefield…

Female Canthon select their mates by the size of their balls. They jump aboard the rolling dung ball, scrambling to stay aloft as they ride away on the spinning nuptial globe. The ardent male pushes his ball [where the female later lays eggs] and passenger over sticks and other obstacles with unabashed Darwinian zeal…

Unless we are gardeners of farmers, we become divorced from the fertile byproducts of ourselves and our fellow creatures.” (21-23)

Pesticides (insecticides) kill beneficial insects (that we all need in the web of life.) They do far more harm than good. Buy organic food, when you can.

[Anahita]

Re: Love, sex, ecology (and poop!)

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/cga/lowres/cgan37l.jpg

Animal Liberation Orchestra featuring Jack Johnson - Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down:

http://purple.dur.ac.uk/site/?q=node/245