Furlow the squirrel-o is offended by your unfounded accusations.
More seriously though. Given abundance of food basically everything we 'know' about animal species interaction gets thrown out the window.
At any moment outside my window you find a dozen species eating side by side every single day that we were told would 'for sure kill each other before sharing a food source'.
What that says about scarcity in relation to humanity I'll leave to someone else...
Man fuck cuckoos. Raise your own children, you little fucking parasites.
I mean they literally lay their eggs in another bird's nest, and then the chick kicks out the other eggs when it hatches, so that another bird mom will think it's their own and mistakenly raise it, while screwing over the other chicks before they even have a chance to be born.
Nest parasitism is not unique to cuckoos and you can't really put a value judgement on evolution. Brown-headed cowbirds are the most common nest parasites in North America. There's lots of species where the parents kill their own children if they either think they aren't strong enough to survive or if the food supply is too insecure to care for them. It's just nature.
I think there might be some anthropomorphism affecting the opinion, and I know a lot of people dislike "raising someone else's children ", especially unknowingly.
In humans, this mostly happens to men just due to biology, but I'm sure some women have experienced swapped kids.
It's not like those animals are betraying defined social constructs while knowing better, so i agree with you more on this, but that would be my best guess for someone reacting so emotionally to it.
(Also there's far worse things to use for the "no god" argument, like cancer and numerous other vicious diseases or syndromes)
It includes a picture of a nest with a cuckoo chick and, although it doesn't look like a pine cone, you can easily make out the speckled feathers. Also, the article is interesting in asserting that the cuckoos' parasitism isn't all bad.
39 Comments
Kolanaki@pawb.social · 82 pts · 360d
"Hey guys, check out what happens when you toss a pinecone in the fire!"
chucks bird; bird screams; tries to fly off; sets woods on fire
"Huh... Usually they just kinda pop..."
oxideseven@lemmy.ca · 60 pts · 360d
Biologist here,
that pinecone pop is always fun, cus it's like unintentional biology lesson time when people do it.
It's by "design" (evolution) that they do that. So that the specific species can spread.
It's why fires are important for forests. Just you know not like 90 trillion fires in 1 summer...
ekZepp@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 360d
😱
West_of_West@piefed.social · 34 pts · 360d
The squirrels in my area like to eat pine cones...
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone · 29 pts · 360d
They probably like to eat baby birds, too. They’re a lot more vicious than people give them credit for.
zout@fedia.io · 19 pts · 360d
Guess what a cuckoo chick does to the other birds in the nest.
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone · 9 pts · 360d
Not eat them! 😜
ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 360d
No, they let them fall to their doom.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 359d
Guess what the mother cuckoo does when it finds out the parasitized bird mom eject the cuckoo egg.
prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 360d
Don’t fool yourselves, a squirrel would murder you and everyone you loved given the chance
Bo7a@lemmy.ca · 20 pts · 360d
Furlow the squirrel-o is offended by your unfounded accusations.
More seriously though. Given abundance of food basically everything we 'know' about animal species interaction gets thrown out the window.
At any moment outside my window you find a dozen species eating side by side every single day that we were told would 'for sure kill each other before sharing a food source'.
What that says about scarcity in relation to humanity I'll leave to someone else...
shalafi@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 360d
The animals in my yard behave very differently than the animals a couple of hundred yards away in the woods.
DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 360d
They just know it isnt worth the fight… yet
Acinonyx@lemmy.sdf.org · 2 pts · 360d
I eat pine cones...
deadkuntgud@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 340d
Acinonyx@lemmy.sdf.org · 1 pts · 340d
*don't you
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 360d
Yeah but if they try you can just peck at his eyes until he stops. Give hem the old HEY SHITASS D'YA MIND?
Psythik@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 360d
Man fuck cuckoos. Raise your own children, you little fucking parasites.
I mean they literally lay their eggs in another bird's nest, and then the chick kicks out the other eggs when it hatches, so that another bird mom will think it's their own and mistakenly raise it, while screwing over the other chicks before they even have a chance to be born.
I wish these fuckers would go extinct.
CidVicious@sh.itjust.works · 42 pts · 360d
Nest parasitism is not unique to cuckoos and you can't really put a value judgement on evolution. Brown-headed cowbirds are the most common nest parasites in North America. There's lots of species where the parents kill their own children if they either think they aren't strong enough to survive or if the food supply is too insecure to care for them. It's just nature.
DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works · 21 pts · 360d
I can and I will and you can't stop me!
(/s for safety)
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 360d
Psythik@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 360d
I can and I will. No /s. I'm 100% serious.
Its pure evil and proof there is no god. I wish all parasitic creatures would fuck off and die. The world is fucked up enough as-is.
ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 360d
How is parasitism any worse than straight up eating something else? Also, house cats kill for fun. Should they go extinct?
chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 360d
I think there might be some anthropomorphism affecting the opinion, and I know a lot of people dislike "raising someone else's children ", especially unknowingly.
In humans, this mostly happens to men just due to biology, but I'm sure some women have experienced swapped kids.
It's not like those animals are betraying defined social constructs while knowing better, so i agree with you more on this, but that would be my best guess for someone reacting so emotionally to it.
(Also there's far worse things to use for the "no god" argument, like cancer and numerous other vicious diseases or syndromes)
alt_xa_23@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 360d
Parasitic creatures play an important role in regulating the environment.
A species with no checks will spread out of control, causing serious ecological damage. (I.e. Emerald ash borer, kudzu, tree of heaven)
It may be gruesome from our perspective, but it's just part of how nature regulates itself.
tetris11@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 360d
*Me, walking past a Storks nest and ignoring the fallen chick that is dead since days*
"so majestic"
Fuck_u_spez_@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 360d
Now tell us what you really think.
Psythik@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 360d
Fuck fascists, fuck tankies, fuck Charlie Kirk, and Motherfuck Donald Fucking Trump.
Happy now?
Fuck_u_spez_@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 360d
No, but that's not your fault.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 360d
have you tried poutine? that makes me happy.
webp@mander.xyz · 10 pts · 360d
Fair, but let's not extinct another species because of how we feel about its adaptations.
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 360d
Yeah but then what would the Swiss use for clocks? Seagulls?
DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 360d
I mean it sure would sound hilarious.
"Tik tok tik tok tik tok kchchch AAAAAAAHH!!!”
HugeNerd@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 360d
I find seagulls hilarious with that whole head tilted all the way back laughing like a dry hinge.
DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 360d
So do I! I sometimes ask them: "What are you laughing at?!"
Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 360d
Well, great! Now you told them! Poor guy is going to need a new hiding place now
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 360d
So that's why I've never seen one!
someguy3@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 360d
Thought this was two pine cones until I read the description.
blubfisch@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 359d
Does anyone have a source for this besides memes? I did not find anything 😢
Korval@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 222d
Me neither. I read a couple of descriptions of striped cuckoos. None mentioned this tidbit and that made me suspicious.
On the other hand, I did find this: https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/science-news/cuckoo-chicks-earn-their-keep
It includes a picture of a nest with a cuckoo chick and, although it doesn't look like a pine cone, you can easily make out the speckled feathers. Also, the article is interesting in asserting that the cuckoos' parasitism isn't all bad.
Psythik@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 360d
miss_demeanour@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 360d