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Proof That Nature Hates A Fraud
An anonymous reader writes "Scientists have known for years that insects and animals use distinct markings as status badges. Now, by staging wasp fights, researchers have learned that cheaters never win. Wimpy wasps painted with the markings reserved for a leader get beat up. Even if the fakes win, they still get harassed afterward. The study leader likened it to what might happen to a 97-pound weakling who walks around wearing a black belt. Sooner or later ..."
Completely wrong. As with ev erything else in life, skill and will are what determine the winers of fights, not size/mass. If size and weight were the determining factors of fights, boxers would never actually need to box. They would just weigh in and the heavier person would win. Instead of staying in shape our boxers would look like sumo wrestlers. This isn't to say that a larger person dosen't have an advantage, but that advantage is easily countered with training and skill. As a martial arts instructor and a 15-year student of martial arts I can tell you that with propper training someone my size (130Lbs, 5'-9") can easily beat someone much larger than myself. (Have been in a few fights with people who exceeded 200+lbs 6'-6"+ and easily won.) I've also been beaten by people who were 50 years my senior. It's all in the skill. And no, I never gave up my lunch money.
--Forest C. Adcock--
Just before my first day at Junior High, my older sister told me to put a big-ass comb in my pocket. This was a status symbol back then.
But, people kept grabbing the comb and tossing it all over the place. I couldn't do anything about it. I was not strong enough (back then) and did not have enough buddies to help. The fact that I could not get the comb back was an ad for further abuse. No more status combs for me.
Table-ized A.I.
Do 'leader' wasps that are painted to look weak still get respect?
as always, google has more info
Well, if you go into a commercial chicken house, and paint red spots on a couple of chickens, those chickens will get pecked to death (oddly enough, they don't do it if they're coverd with shit). With my own chickens, they seem to like pecking at my preety, shiny wedding ring. It's not bad when they're 3 weeks old, but by the time they're 8 weeks old, they're big enough that it starts to hurt.
Our sheep, we tried putting coats on them this summer. Well, we didn't get them all coated. The ones that were coated were ostracised by the rest of the flock... But once we got them all coated a couple of weeks later, they all seemed to realize quickly that they all had coats on, and they adjusted soon enough amd were back to behaving normally.