The world changed too fast for this beetle

Selecionar modo de aprendizagem:

3000 Oxford Words4000 IELTS Words5000 Oxford Words3000 Common Words1000 TOEIC Words5000 TOEFL Words

Legendas (16)

0:00This beetle is trying to mate with a beer bottle. And in fact, he's dedicated enough

0:04to the task that he may get so dehydrated that he dies doing it. Which seems like really dumb

0:10behavior… but don’t be too quick to judge, because there’s something MUCH deeper going on here.

0:23The basis for this beetle-bottle blunder happened long ago, as male jewel beetles evolved to seek

0:28out females’ shiny, bumpy brown shells in order to mate. But, fast forward many, MANY years,

0:34and we humans are adding all sorts of new stuff to the environment… including this particular type of

0:40beer bottle, which just so happens to share the very same qualities that male jewel beetles are

0:45primed to seek out. In fact, these qualities are more exaggerated in the bottle than in the beetle.

0:52As a result, the males get fooled into behavior that’s, at best, not gonna get the job done,

0:57and at worst, could actually kill them. Scientists call these kinds of collisions

1:00between an animal’s deep-seated instincts and the modern world “evolutionary traps”...

1:00Now that we know how big a problem evolutionary traps can be, we’re trying to disarm them,

1:04like by using diffused window film to reduce reflections, and by limiting

1:08artificial light in urban and beachfront areas. And in Western Australia–where those

1:12particular beetles and bottles coexisted–beer manufacturers modified their bottle design,

1:17eliminating those super-sexy bumps and ending the males’ misguided love affair.