The Hangar Natural History Thread

[Wahooti Fandango]

Been watching Planet Earth on Blu-Ray. I expect juppy to contribute.

[YOUTUBE]X-uuVydQ-qY[/YOUTUBE]

So awesome.

In HD, but without Attenborough narration.

[YOUTUBE]fWvDg92qTEQ[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]RiQcSIF3l9E[/YOUTUBE]

With Attenborough narration.

[YOUTUBE]jSGikymKFlc[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Kong]

They've been playing Attenborough on 7mate lately. Loving it.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Yep, always great viewing.

 

[juppy]

This one is pretty insane. Guy diving with a great white and riding the shark.

[YOUTUBE]_QQQPmni8Rs&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

Also, another short video that I have found interesting is this duck penis video. Basically, female ducks were pretty much getting raped and were not able to choose who they have offspring with. So the female vagina started evolving to stop the penis. First they started producing spermicide, then a vaginal block and now a spiral vaginal track. Males have now started evolving to get around these defenses, hence the spiral penis.

[YOUTUBE]qwjEeI2SmiU[/YOUTUBE]

Lastly, a project I was involved in got this great footage of a Sea Lion attacking an Octopus. Pretty cool.

[YOUTUBE]M3dXKazFO8U[/YOUTUBE]

 

[juppy]

Oh, nearly forgot some of the best footage I have seen. In this vid you see lions taking on buffalo, lions taking on crocodiles and buffalo taking on the lions. Watch the whole thing. It is insane!

[YOUTUBE]LU8DDYz68kM[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Lastly, a project I was involved in got this great footage of a Sea Lion attacking an Octopus. Pretty cool.

[YOUTUBE]M3dXKazFO8U[/YOUTUBE]

That is seriously awesome. I see National Geographic were involved. NGM is basically the only thing I read regularly.

Kruger is epically awesome.

Coelacanth always intrigued me.

[YOUTUBE]NzzxOlFJtzg[/YOUTUBE]

Birds of Paradise are always entertaining.

[YOUTUBE]7dx2CUMtZ-0[/YOUTUBE]

 

[juppy]

Yeah the Coelacanthare cool. Seriously weird biology.

 

[George Washington]

Also, another short video that I have found interesting is this duck penis video. Basically, female ducks were pretty much getting raped and were not able to choose who they have offspring with. So the female vagina started evolving to stop the penis. First they started producing spermicide, then a vaginal block and now a spiral vaginal track. Males have now started evolving to get around these defenses, hence the spiral penis.

Excuse my limited knowledge of evolution but how would this work?

With Darwin's birds the changes were the beaks which enabled them to get more food and have more babies.. simply right?

So the ducks without the contraceptive vaginas would have more babies meaning that the ones with would be less likely to pass on the genes...?

Or am I wrong?

The male one makes sense though.

 

[juppy]

No worries, definately good points and all true. But in the animal world it is usually the males that have to compete for females. The more colourful birds are males (think of the peacock). Females use these traits to determine the best mate = best genes. The whole theory is based on that these colourful displays make them more vulnerable to predation so the fact that they have survived to mating age means they have good genes.

In PP's vid birds of paradise vid that was a male displaying his colours. If he has s**t colours they will simply turn down mating.

In Sea Lions the male with the biggest mane will usually control the largest territory (most females) but will be more likely to be spotted by a predator because their manes turn whitish and will stand out against the rocks.

In this case, males are just going about willy nilly raping females and they have no choice in the matter. If the female likes the male duck they will bend into the right position so penetration is easier and this will allow sperm. If not they have evolved the mechanisms to stop mating.

Having said that there must be plenty of male ducks around because it wouldnt work if the chance of meeting a male was low.

 

[Burzum]

[youtube]Zoygy-8PTtU[/youtube]

 

[juppy]

Wouldn't it just be that there was a genetic
Mutation where a duck had a bendy/whatever penis, which was able to reproduce and therefore over a long period of time, it produced millions of descendants, whereas the ducks that were previously normal (regular penis) were unable to rape the females, and therefore produced a lot less offspring.

Yeah, that is the other side of it. Males with the spiral penis would have greater success at mating. But that is only catching up with teh female evolution of spiral vagina to try to stop the straighties.

So teh females once had straight vaginas, then evolved curves to get the upper hand, now males are counteracting that with thier curved penis'.

Its an example of 2 sexes trying to evolve so they have the upper hand in mating.

 

[juppy]

That is cool as Rig. Love that deap sea stuff they find.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

[youtube]Zoygy-8PTtU[/youtube]

Read about that in Nat Geo, but had not seen video.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

No worries, definately good points and all true. But in the animal world it is usually the males that have to compete for females. The more colourful birds are males (think of the peacock). Females use these traits to determine the best mate = best genes. The whole theory is based on that these colourful displays make them more vulnerable to predation so the fact that they have survived to mating age means they have good genes.

Interesting that some are now contesting the role of the peacock train in sexual selection.

Mainly this study (was mentioned in one of my zoology lectures a few years ago).

http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...919cb222d24088c55e63e76bc19059f5&searchtype=a

 

[juppy]

That deap sea fish is mad. Doesnt have stereoscopic vision like most fish either.

Ah, hadnt read that article PP. Would be interesting to go into further. By the sound of the Abstract they say that there is choice going on but it doesnt have to do with the train of the male.

Havn't read the whole article but will soon. Be interesting to see what they measured. Brightness of colour is a major factor usually as is size and length.

 

[Burzum]

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

That deap sea fish is mad. Doesnt have stereoscopic vision like most fish either.

Ah, hadnt read that article PP. Would be interesting to go into further. By the sound of the Abstract they say that there is choice going on but it doesnt have to do with the train of the male.

Havn't read the whole article but will soon. Be interesting to see what they measured. Brightness of colour is a major factor usually as is size and length.

From memory I think it is the number of spots/arrangement of spots that is significant.

Such a great pic.

Sticking with neurology.

[YOUTUBE]ZMLzP1VCANo[/YOUTUBE]

One of my favs.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Also,

[YOUTUBE]vJG698U2Mvo[/YOUTUBE]

if you have seen it don't say anything.

 

[juppy]

A mate who stopped at my house just before xmas caught this footage of a sunfish at the Poor Knights dive site on the north island.

They are quite cool. This is a small one but they get massive and from memory one was responsible for breaking a boat that was competing in the Sydney to Hobart.

[YOUTUBE]3HAmD8AG8a8&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]

If you would like more images look at the blog.

http://owussaustralasia.org/?p=1217

Not my mates blog but he is the one with the frizzy hair in the pics.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Yep, sunfish are awesome.

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

I wish juppy came back to discuss the natural world.