Flashy fathers risk offspring safety
Blue-black Grassquit, Volatinia jacarina
Wikipedia Commons/Dario Sanches
In a population of blue-black grassquits, song birds found in the tropics of South America, nests within territories of displaying males are at greater risk of predation by avian predators than areas without them, suggesting a trade-off exists for fathers between attracting new mates and protecting their existing offspring.R. Dias, et al., "Experimental evidence that sexual displays are costly for nest survival," linkurl:Ethology,;http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2010.01817.x/abstract 116:1011-19, 2010.Spiders duped by bug predatorBy comparing spiders' reactions to different stimuli landing in their web, researchers found that assassin bugs trick their spider prey by mimicking the vibrations on the web made by the spider's own struggling prey, causing the spiders to come within striking range.A. Wignall, et al., "Assassin bug uses aggressive mimicry to lure spider prey," Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, AOP, linkurl:doi:...
Predators influence offspring in ovoE. Giesing, et al., "Female stickleback transfer information via eggs: effects of maternal experience with predators on offspring," Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, AOP, linkurl:doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.1819,;http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/11/03/rspb.2010.1819.abstract 2010.Queens conquer unrelated hives
Queen bee surrounded by workers
Wikipedia Commons/Waugsberg
T. Wenseleers, et al., "Intraspecific queen parasitism in a highly eusocial bee," Biology Letters, AOP, linkurl:doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0819,;http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/10/16/rsbl.2010.0819.abstract?sid=3dc7ebe6-f214-48cd-afa2-cdd327402114 2010.The bird who cried wolfT. Flower, "Fork-tailed drongos use deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food," Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, AOP, linkurl:doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.1932,;http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/10/27/rspb.2010.1932.abstract?sid=993be3cc-7967-41d0-8523-3a68bc7a45e9 2010.Love songs stay classicB. Byers, et al., "Independent Cultural Evolution of Two Song Traditions in the Chestnut-Sided Warbler," linkurl:The American Naturalist,;http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/656268?prevSearch=%2528Bruce%2BByers%2529%2BAND%2B%255Bjournal%253A%2Ban%255D&searchHistoryKey= 176:476-89, 2010.Meat, the ultimate pacifierF. Kachanoff, et al., presented at McGill University's annual undergraduate science linkurl:symposium,;http://aoc.mcgill.ca/news/channels/2010/november/1/caveman-behavioural-traits-might-kick-dinner-table-eating 2010.

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