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/
Episode 138 - The Moon
Episode 137 - Fossilization
Episode 136 - Seahorses
Patron Mini-Episode Compilation #2
Episode 135 - Seeds
The Art of Common Descent with Rob Soto
Episode 134 – Sanguivores (Blood-Eaters)
Episode 133 - Symbiosis
Episode 132 - Mary and Louis Leakey
Episode 131 - Volcanoes
Episode 130 - Sense of Smell
End of the Year Q&A 2021
Episode 129 - Rhinos
Episode 128 - The Deep Sea
Silver Screen Science – Prologue, Jurassic World: Dominion
Episode 127 - The Hell Creek Formation
Episode 126 - Mimicry
Episode 125 - Orchids
Spook-E - Triffids
Spook-E - Mandrakes
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