41–50 of 97 posts
I'm all for preserving endangered species and all, but frankly these insects scare the hell out of me and if I was anywhere close to one of them I may run away, screaming like a little girl. I believe I'm not very exceptional a person thus I suspect they'll have difficulties convincing people to have this species reintroduced on any inhabited island.
The title of this article is base clickbait...
I can't exactly describe how, but it doesn't feel like clickbait. Maybe because it wasn't misleading, obviously it wasn't going to be about real six-legged giant, so I assumed it was an animal or something.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps, it is better to say "largely rat free." I grew up in eastern Alberta, and I certainly never saw a rat until I moved out of province as an adult.
I mean, I grew up in California, not even remotely rat free, and I think I've seen... three-ish... rats in my nearly 40 years? Besides pets or lab animals. Rats hide. Doesn't mean there aren't a fairly large number of them around.
EDITED to add: We had cats which killed mice and gophers and birds and voles and all sorts of creatures. I NEVER saw a rat. I know it is hard to believe, but Alberta really is (at least mostly) rat free.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> screaming like a small child" perhaps is better. Why is that better? Have you never heard a little girl scream? It's not the same as the sound of a little boy. Let's not let political correctness wash away every difference that makes individuals special.
> Have you never heard a little girl scream? It's not the same as the sound of a little boy. I disagree, all little humans learn how to make that piercing scream often attributed to little girls. Little boys will likely do it less as they begin to be socialized and thus wedged into gender roles, but they definitely do "scream like little girls".
You apparently don't actually know any little boys and girls because their screams sound nothing alike. Boys do manage a nice scream, but it doesn't sound the same, especially past the age of 3.
> Little boys will likely do it less as they begin to be socialized and thus wedged into gender roles
Again with this nonsense canard? Why is there such an inability to recognize that boys and girls are different? Next you'll tell me people aren't born knowing what gender they are, but rather it's "socialized" into them.
A desire for equality will not be achieved by erasing all differences, but by celebrating all differences, and recognizing each is valuable in its own way.
What I don't fully understand is, usually when scientists try to preserve rare species, there is a critical mass under which there isn't enough genetic diversity to preserve the species (I've seen ~30 quoted for some rare mammals). But in this case, just two individuals were able to start a viable population. Why are these insects different? I can only think of a couple reasons... - since these insects have a r-selec…
Ill effects of incest can be avoided with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_purging . In case there are only very few individuals left that's probably not what one wants to do, though.
on the one hand, this is evolution in action, the habitat for this animal was decreased by the presence of a successful predator.
on the other, rats have no sympathy from me, and we have plenty of them around, so why not wipe them out to allow insects to flourish?
somehow killing a bunch of rats to allow a failed species to reclaim its territory seems wrong. so i lean towards letting this insect take its chances in its tiny little habitat.
if we were talking about exterminating people to make room for any of the species we have destroyed it would be a no-brainer...
i'm in two minds about this. on the one hand, this is evolution in action, the habitat for this animal was decreased by the presence of a successful predator. on the other, rats have no sympathy from me, and we have plenty of them around, so why not wipe them out to allow insects to flourish? somehow killing a bunch of rats to allow a failed species to reclaim its territory seems wrong. so i lean towards letting this…
Competition only "works" when everyone is playing by the same rules. This means that we throw off the equilibrium for the rest of the planet because we play by different rules. In fact, our intelligence is such that I don't even think we're playing the same game any more.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since voices don't change until puberty -- any kid screaming sounds the same. And in the vein of special individuals, there are little girls who love and hate insects, and little boys who love and hate insects. Perhaps a more original phrase or analogy would be better: I would scream like a Dryococelus australis being attacked by rats.
> Since voices don't change until puberty -- any kid screaming sounds the same. Apparently you have not met any. They don't sound anything alike, except maybe as newborns. > there are little girls who love and hate insects He just said scream like a little girl, there was no connotation of girls hating or loving insects. Just a sound.
I don't know about that.
My 3.5yo daughter has a 4.5yo male best friend. When they're running about squealing, it's pretty hard to tell their squeals apart.
> Where, they wondered, did that poop come from? The question that drives scientists to do what they do.
I'm all for preserving endangered species and all, but frankly these insects scare the hell out of me and if I was anywhere close to one of them I may run away, screaming like a little girl. I believe I'm not very exceptional a person thus I suspect they'll have difficulties convincing people to have this species reintroduced on any inhabited island.
This "sexism in language" derail is totally irrelevant to the topic and I don't think it does anything to help actual sexism in STEM or anything like that.