There isn’t much on Earth quite like an ant colony or a beehive. Lots of animals are social, but relatively few are eusocial. It’s a bizarre lifestyle, living in large multi-generational colonies with lots of members who don’t reproduce but instead dedicate their lives to protecting and nourishing the offspring of the few reproducers. In this episode, we discuss the many questions surrounding this phenomenon, including how many times this trait has evolved, why it’s apparently so beneficial, and exactly how natural selection could even produce such a strange lifestyle.
In the news: venom evolution, pointy things, early rainforests, and bone origins.
Time markers:
Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00
News: 00:05:00
Main discussion, Part 1: 00:39:00
Main discussion, Part 2: 01:15:00
Patron question: 02:02:00
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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome.
More music like this at http://ocremix.org.
Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Patron Mini-Episode Compilation #4
Episode 179 - Thermoregulation
Episode 178 - Ears
Cute-E - Friendly Dragons
Episode 177 - Neanderthals
Spook-E - Turtle Dragons
Spook-E - Wyverns
Episode 176 - Hadrosaurs
Spook-E - East Asian Dragons
Spook-E - European Dragons
Episode 175 - Plant Defenses
Episode 174 - The Mesozoic Marine Revolution
Episode 173 - Herbivores (Plant-Eaters)
Silver Screen Science - 65 (2023)
Episode 172 - Toothed Whales
Episode 171 - The Tethys Sea
Episode 170 - Milk
Snake Stuff with David
Episode 169 - Sea Snakes
Episode 168 – Marine Crocs
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