[lit-ideas] Re: OLD JOKES


On Jul 19, 2007, at 10:00 AM, Judith Evans wrote:


I know what guppies are, but I didn't know they er 'bred' like rabbits!
The problem, if problem it is, is not entirely the males' fault. It takes but an instant to make a female pregnant and she can give birth to several generations from one impregnation. The females live a life like that of the young Catherine of Aragon, constantly pregnant. At the instigation of International Guppy Rights Watch, we now have a second, all- female tank that I'd call "Amazonian" if that weren't a bit unfair to Trinidad. The anthropomorphic idea is to give them some respite, but the actual result is that more babies survive, some of which then do the Oedipal thing which--would you believe it--many of the breeder sites recommend as a way of reinforcing whatever designer traits you're trying to achieve. The deformed ones, say these same sites, are a problem that you solve by putting the animals in a freezer bag and giving them the long hibernation treatment. We just wait and let nature take its course; the mothers eat any young they can catch. 

Guppy sex is a bit of a hot topic.

They're studying Guppy sexual harassment in Bangor:

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060608_guppy.htm

And drawing further conclusions at the Royal Society

http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/exhibit.asp?id=3636

This site has a Guppy Sex Simulator:

http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/guppy.html

David Ritchie,
Purveyor of Slight Fishy Information
Portland, Oregon 
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