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... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 27: May-Jun 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Great Balls Of Snakes Most garter snakes in the northern states spend the winter in communal dens below the frost line. Some dens host as many as 10,000 to 15,000 redlined garter snakes, which emerge en masse in the spring. Although garter snakes cannot survive freezing temperatures, they apparently do not congregate in such enormous numbers to keep warm, for sexually immature garter snakes commonly hibernate alone. Big concentrations of sexually mature garter snakes seem to be part of the reproduction strategy of the species. In the big aggregations, males usually outnumber females by 50-1 . As each female emerges in the spring, she is immediately ... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 27: May-Jun 1983 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Great Balls Of Snakes Most garter snakes in the northern states spend the winter in communal dens below the frost line. Some dens host as many as 10,000 to 15,000 redlined garter snakes, which emerge en masse in the spring. Although garter snakes cannot survive freezing temperatures, they apparently do not congregate in such enormous numbers to keep warm, for sexually immature garter snakes commonly hibernate alone. Big concentrations of sexually mature garter snakes seem to be part of the reproduction strategy of the species. In the big aggregations, males usually outnumber females by 50-1 . As each female emerges in the spring, she is immediately ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 524 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf027/sf027p07.htm
... Subjects The deceitful she-males "In many diverse taxa, males of the same species often exhibit multiple mating strategies. One well-documented alternative male reproductive pattern is 'female mimicry,' whereby males assume a female-like morphology or mimic female behavior patterns. In some species males mimic both female morphology and behavior. We report here female mimicry in a reptile, the red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis). This form of mimicry is unique in that it is expressed as a physiological feminization. Courting male red-sided garter snakes detect a female-specific pheromone and normally avoid courting other males. However, a small proportion of males release a pheromone that attracts other males, as though they were females. In the field, mating aggregations of 5-17 ... were observed formed around these individual attractive males, which we have termed 'she-males.' In competitive mating trials, she-males mated with females significantly more often than did normal males, demonstrating not only reproductive competence but also a possible selective advantage to males with this female-like pheromone." In the competitive mating trials, the she-males were successful in 29 out of 42 trials. The normal males won out in only 13! The authors ask the question: Why aren't all males she-males given such an advantage? (Mason, Robert T., and Crews, David; "Female Mimicry in Garter Snakes," Nature, 316:59, 1985.) Comment. Among the fishes, bluegills and salmon (and probably many others ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 272 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf041/sf041p07.htm
... Remarkable Biochemical Reactions during Tadpole Metamorphosis BRD DISTRIBUTION IN SPACE AND TIME Amphibian Decline Worldwide Blind Cave Dwellers Mass Migrations and Concentrations Out-of-Place Snakes Out-of-Place Alligators and Crocodiles Loggerhead Missing-Year Phenomenon Dearth of Frogs and Lizards in Southeast Asia Sea-Snake Concentrations Strange Geographical Distribution of Iguanas Entombed Animals [ESB8] Sea Snakes Only in Pacific Anomalous Distribution of Amphibians First-Year Garter Snakes Never Found in Winter Dens Surprising Diversity at High Latitudes BRE THE FOSSIL RECORD OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES Dinosaur Extinction Origin of Vertebrates Tetrapod Origin Polar Dinosaurs Earliest Reptile Fossils Large-Scale Extinctions Polyphyletic Origin of Reptiles Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs Mammal-Like Reptiles Snakes with Legs Hairy and Feathered Dinosaurs Origin of Turtles Dinosaur Feeding Habits Correlated with Origin of Flowering Plants Mysterious Reptile Footprints Caecelian Origin Fish-Reptile ... Exposure Increases Cancer Incidence in His Children BHH33 Atavistic Nature of Cancer BHH34 The Ubiquity of Proto-Oncogenes BHH35 Cancer Incidence Correlated with Organism Complexity BHH36 Survival of Human Genetic Diseases Despite Natural Selection BHH37 Survival of Human Viral and Bacterial Diseases Puzzle of Human Motion Sickness Origin and Increase of Asthma Efficiacy of Homeopathy Pregnancy Increases Susceptibility to Malaria Cancer and the Extracellular Matrix Autism Correlated with Season of Birth Electrical Shocks Cure Snake Bites Organ Transplants Transfer Allergies SID Correlated with Geomagnetic Activity Advantages of Blood-Letting Efficacy of Acupuncture Heath Correlated with Psychological Disturbances AIDS Associated with Black Plague Survival Geography of Stroke Incidence Longevity Anticorrelated with Reproductive Success AIDS May be Man-Made BHI INTERNAL SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURES BHI1 High Complexity and Sophistication of the Immune System BHI2 The Origin of Antibody Diversity BHI3 Immune-System Deficiencies BHI4 The Enigma of the ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 267 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /cat-biol.htm
... Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 74: Mar-Apr 1991 Issue Contents Other pages Home Page Science Frontiers Online All Issues This Issue Sourcebook Project Sourcebook Subjects Eel Oddities Garter snakes are reknowned for their habit of congregating in large, writhing masses, but we never heard of "eel balls" until A. Gardiner mentioned them in a recent issue of the Fortean Times. "These [eel balls] are recorded in Christopher Moriarty's excellent Eels: a Natural and Unnatural History (David and Charles, 1978). Moriarity cites Pliny as the earliest historical reference. According to him, Eel Balls occur in Lake Garda, Italy, when it has been storm-tossed by the effects of the October 'Autumn star'. Smitt in his Scandanavian Fishes (1895) says that eels ... themselves together in bunches 'up to a fathom in circumference' and are seen rolling along the stream beds, or, strangely, resting in this position. On 17 August 1935, fishery scientist J.C . Medcof observed, in the outflow of Lake Ainslie in Nova Scotia, 'three splendid clumps of Eels, half a metre in diameter, 30 to a clump, knotted tightly and remaining motionless in the rushes.' Medcof mentions that Eel Balls are sometimes free floating on the surface, which suggests formation with an air pocket or some communal control of air bladders. He says that this behavior occurs before eels 'silver' prior to the spawning migration. The record of Eel Balls in Nova Scotia proves that this behaviour is not confined to the European Eel." (Gardiner ...
Terms matched: 2 - Score: 224 - 15 May 2017 - URL: /sf074/sf074b06.htm
