那麼,一隻可愛的小貓和不穩定的懸崖以及聖海倫火山有什麼關係呢?

招潮蟹是奇怪的小動物。雄性擁有一隻巨大的螯,其長度可能與其身體寬度一樣,以及一隻微小的 T 型螯。

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本文發表於《大眾科學》的前部落格網路,反映了作者的觀點,不一定代表《大眾科學》的觀點


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPIc8s-V8fM

招潮蟹是奇怪的小動物。雄性擁有一隻巨大的螯,其長度可能與其身體寬度一樣,以及一隻微小的霸王龍手臂,在螃蟹身上看起來很不協調。

最近,一位研究人員在我為史密森尼運營的海洋網站上發表了一篇部落格文章,講述了招潮蟹為什麼有如此巨大的螯。一些龍蝦的一隻螯比另一隻大,但這是因為它們可以再生在戰鬥中失去的螯,使其最終相比之下變小。對於招潮蟹來說,這是一個進化的問題:既是擊退其他雄性的武器,也是給雌性留下深刻印象的裝飾品。(在部落格上閱讀詳細資訊!


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在這篇文章中,我編輯了我的第一個影片:招潮蟹在一些史詩般的音樂中戰鬥。請觀看上方影片!

預覽圖片:John Christy,史密森尼熱帶研究所

Hannah Waters is a science writer fascinated by the natural world, the history of its study, and the way people think about nature. On top of science blogging, she runs the Smithsonian's Ocean Portal, a marine biology education website, and is science editor for Ladybits.

Hannah is a child of the internet, who coded HTML frames on her Backstreet Boys fanpage when she was in middle school. Aptly, she rose to professional science writing through blogging (originally on Wordpress) and tweeting profusely. She's written for The Scientist, Nature Medicine, Smithsonian.com, and others.

Before turning to full-time writing, Hannah wanted to be an oceanographer or a classicist, studying Biology and Latin at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. She's done ecological research on marine food webs, shorebird conservation, tropical ecology and grassland ecosystems. She worked as a lab technician at the University of Pennsylvania studying molecular biology and the epigenetics of aging. And, for a summer, she manned a microphone and a drink shaker on a tour boat off the coast of Maine, pointing out wildlife and spouting facts over a loudspeaker while serving drinks.

Email her compliments, complaints and tips at culturingscience at gmail dot com.

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