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| Give Affection, Do Not Buy It |
September 7th, 2003.
By Professor Fabio Cupul
Permanent Member of SOMEDICYT, the prestigious Mexican
Society for the Dissemination of Science and Techniques.
VERSION
EN ESPAÑOL |
The phrase has been the common denominator
of the anti-consumerism campaigns waged by this country’s
federal government. Nevertheless, it implicitly extols
the financial risks one can find oneself facing if one’s
money is misspent in the acquisition of gifts intended
to gain the love or confidence of others, it appears
that what happens in nature is very different. There,
offering a gift could be the key to acquiring the confidence
of a friend or an enemy, something that will make the
difference between remaining alive and leaving descendants
and inevitable death.
One example of the foregoing is the
male hanging fly that offers a dead insect to the female
it is courting, which she devours during the sexual
act. This gift is essential for the copulation to take
place without any hitches. In order to get the gift
for the future partner without complications, some of
those flies prefer to become “drag queens”.
By behaving like females and imitating their responses
to courtship, they conquer a male through trickery.
By imitating a female’s movements, a “drag
queen” becomes the object of courtship by a male,
thus obtaining the nuptial gift. But because it cannot
maintain the ruse, the transformist fly has to flee
with the gift which it will use to obtain the sexual
favors of a female - if it is not the object of the
same trick.
 Although
some dead animal may be offered as a gift to the female
to keep her distracted and achieve the sexual coupling,
some insects offer their own bodies as a tribute of
their love even though, if they have the opportunity
to flee once the reproductive act is finished, they
will do so without hesitation. For example, the coupling
of the praying mantis could be very risky because once
the male has finished depositing his sperm, he must
get off the female’s back and escape before she
can grab him and gobble him up. Unfortunately, although
the males with which she copulates sometimes do manage
to escape, there will always be on who pays the price
for perpetuating his genes and besides, apart from donating
part of his genetic information, he will be providing
nutritional elements to the future mother of his offspring.
We have another situation where gifts
are offered in order to obtain a favor when we consider
the relationship between ants and acacia trees (known
locally as jarretaderas). In this case, the acacia provides
food and shelter to the ants and in exchange, it enjoys
the protection of an army that will sting any intruder,
plant or animal, whose intention it is to harm the tree.
In this relationship, the ants patrol
the tree, killing any insect that may approach their
territory and feeding their young with it. Also, the
ants remove any seed that may sprout around the base
of the acacia, keeping the soil free of any weeds or
undergrowth that might compete for available water and
nutrients. The creeping plants from other trees that
may reach the branches of their host will also be eliminated.
 In
exchange for their work, the ants are compensated with
shelter and abundant food. They live in the big hollow
spines of the acacia, which they penetrate by making
a hole near the tip. The queen and her offspring live
in one of the spines. For their part, the acacia flowers
produce nectar for adult ants and a special food for
the larvae, which is collected by the worker ants.
One last example of how to buy one’s
affection is the Arctic tern. For these birds, the gift
of a fish from a male is the decisive factor in choosing
a partner because the females need a good provider to
ensure the desired results in reproductive activities.
After spending the winter in Antarctica,
the tern return to the frozen Arctic Ocean to reproduce.
A young male flies with a fish in its beak, hoping to
attract a female. When he does, she sets down next to
him and accepts the fish. Afterwards, she will wait
to see how many more her suitor will bring to her. One
bad performance on the part of the male will cause the
female to abandon him in search of a better provider.
But if he brings her enough “gifts” to satisfy
her, it is nearly assured that he could also prove to
be a good father, bringing enough food home to feed
all the little ones.
These gifts are not just a means
to getting a partner. The more the female eats during
this time, the more energy she will have to produce
eggs. Generally, she will lay two or three, but if she
is well fed, their size and quality will be better.
Furthermore, it increases the probability that the tern
chicks will be born healthy and strong.
Vallarta's Nature Field Guide - File 6
The Crocodile
 Crocodiles
are animals that have fed the dreams and imagination
of a large variety of cultures throughout time. The
Chinese and Japanese dragons inspired by the effigy
of those beautiful beings are famous. Crocodiles have
even represented Satan in medieval iconography. These
reptiles whose shadow has been present in this world
for some 250 million years are today’s descendants
of a lineage that includes the famous and successful
dinosaurs. Crocodiles are characterized by three morphological
aspects: a set of jaws armed with sharp teeth, a powerful
tail to swim with and a body protected by scales. Twenty-three
species have survived to this day. They live in the
tropical and subtropical regions of the planet. Most
of these species are in danger of disappearing, mainly
due to illegal trade and the loss of their natural habitats.
There is however a successful, legal, national and international
market that produces crocodiles in captivity or in the
wild and liberate an important part of their production
for the repopulation of their natural environment. Three
species live in Mexico, one of them is the American
crocodile (Cocodrylus acutus) distributed along the
Pacific coast from northern Sinaloa to Chiapas and on
the Yucatan peninsula on the Atlantic coast. It can
grow as large as 20 feet in length though its average
size is around 13 feet. It usually lays about 30 eggs
in holes it has dug in the sand. The offspring are born
at the start of the rainy season.
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