Yesterday in my MCB class about animal behavior, the professor talked about pheromones (chemical signals released by a member of a species to trigger an innate response in another). One example that stuck out to me was about the Queen Mandibular Pheromone (QMP), which is secreted by the queen bee of a bee hive. Now everyone knows being classified as a "queen bee" is beezy enough, but look at the effect QMP has on worker bees:
Causes workers to rear brood, forage for food, build comb, suppresses rearing of the new queen, ovaries of workers
So basically, not only does the queen get every one of her bee-needs and bee-comforts catered to, she emits something that sterilizes/destroys the ovaries/shuts down the babymaker of OTHER FEMALE BEES! This ensures her status in the social structure of the hive. The professor called this a sophisticated form of power control (in my notes, I almost wrote "birth control"). I would call this an ultimate example of beeziness given to us by Mother Nature.
New inspiration for how Natasha will run her small group? HAHA just kidding.
Until next time...Your loyal Queen B,
Natasha
Edited to add:
Val: LOL
WOW
your alter ego is really getting to you
No comments:
Post a Comment