Alas Moths
from fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz on 24 Aug 2024 12:03
https://mander.xyz/post/17130824

#science_memes

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Ephera@lemmy.ml on 24 Aug 2024 12:57 next collapse

It’s apparently also got the size for it:
<img alt="Photo of an atlas moth sitting on a hand. Its wingspan is larger than the hand." src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Ataccus_atlas.jpg">

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attacus_atlas

veroxii@aussie.zone on 24 Aug 2024 15:46 next collapse

If I had 2 cobras watching my back I too would grow as big as I wanted without giving a shit.

idunnololz@lemmy.world on 24 Aug 2024 17:22 collapse

Wtf that looks sick

OfCourseNot@fedia.io on 24 Aug 2024 13:10 next collapse

Evolution's fucking badass!

The process that made these images is very similar to the ones used by genAI in some ways.

flora_explora@beehaw.org on 26 Aug 2024 07:46 collapse

Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking! They cannot really tell what they look like or what they should look like. But based on various pressures and weights, they slowly get pushed to look like a cobra, for example. Amazing!

apotheotic@beehaw.org on 24 Aug 2024 13:39 next collapse

Moths are awesome, there’s no “Alas” about them!

DreadPirateShawn@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 24 Aug 2024 18:17 collapse

I came for the alas, stayed for the atlas.

TriflingToad@lemmy.world on 24 Aug 2024 16:27 next collapse

ngl it got me. It’s confusing attack was highly effective.

angrystego@lemmy.world on 25 Aug 2024 13:03 collapse

The butterfly is called Attacus for a reason.

python@programming.dev on 24 Aug 2024 17:26 next collapse

I am down to respectfully admire any snake, but moths freak me tf out sorry

meowMix2525@lemm.ee on 25 Aug 2024 00:06 collapse

Your loss tbh, moths are fkn awesome

python@programming.dev on 25 Aug 2024 12:25 collapse

I know, my brain is just very unhappy when it registers one :') I am getting better at it tho, only cried a little bit the last time a moth made it into my apartment

General_Shenanigans@lemmy.world on 24 Aug 2024 17:27 next collapse

The crazy thing about this is not just how evolution reverse-engineered what a snake looks like to a bird (or whatever preys on this moth), but also that some birds are born with an image burned into their brains labeled “avoid.” Snakes are such a problem to animals that may also prey on this moth, that a moth was able, over millions of years of evolution, to mimic that image through selective pressure. We’re not seeing here a moth mimicking a snake, we are seeing a moth’s wings resembling the image its prey holds in its brain of what it should identify as its own predator. An image that, itself, is held genetically and passed down from animal to animal, built by its own selective pressure. It’s amazing that this could produce such a clear image that’s immediately recognizable to us.

reinei@lemmy.world on 24 Aug 2024 18:22 next collapse

I mean don’t we also sort of carry that same image (obviously not exactly, but sorta) in our genes?

xenoclast@lemmy.world on 24 Aug 2024 20:17 collapse

Or to boil it down:the ones who’s wings looked more like snakes had more babies cuz they’re weren’t dead.

Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca on 24 Aug 2024 23:37 collapse

The ones whos wings looked like what their predators think a snake looks like survived more often.

angrystego@lemmy.world on 25 Aug 2024 13:01 collapse

I’m not their predator and I think a snake looks like that too. I therefore think the image is pretty acurate.

Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca on 25 Aug 2024 20:28 collapse

That means we see snakes similarly to the way their predators do.

From a different perspective, the bee mimic orchid only vaguely looks like a bee to us, but it still successfuly tricks bees, so image accuracy isn’t the only factor. Both mimics can give us interesting insughts into how other animals see the world.

angrystego@lemmy.world on 26 Aug 2024 06:47 collapse

Yeah, I’ll add another example where it doesn’t work on us people, just for the fun of it. Tigers are quite strikingly orange and one wonders how they can hide in the greenery without being immediatelly spotted by their prey. But their prey sees the orange colour differently, for them, tigers blend with their surroundings perfectly!

rooster_butt@lemm.ee on 24 Aug 2024 19:01 next collapse

Can someone explain the comment. What does “hot girl shit” even mean.

puppycat@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 24 Aug 2024 20:28 next collapse

two cobras watching your back, undoubtedly

WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world on 25 Aug 2024 15:12 collapse

Two or three years ago it was just another snake cult, now… they’re everywhere.

fossilesque@mander.xyz on 24 Aug 2024 21:17 next collapse

She slays.

nightofmichelinstars@sopuli.xyz on 25 Aug 2024 10:45 collapse

It’s one of Megan Thee Stallion’s catch phrases that she says in a lot of her songs, and she also uses a lot of snake imagery. She has a song called Cobra.

iAvicenna@lemmy.world on 25 Aug 2024 11:20 next collapse

where is your god now?

theacharnian@lemmy.ca on 25 Aug 2024 12:52 next collapse

First step: Google it to make sure it’s not generative AI.

Second step: allow oneself to be amazed.

mihor@lemmy.ml on 25 Aug 2024 17:24 next collapse

Looks AI generated, LOL.

NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world on 25 Aug 2024 20:37 next collapse

Nature is fucking amazing

Reddfugee42@lemmy.world on 25 Aug 2024 22:20 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/93f59651-215e-4bda-967a-9c457359751f.png">

BlackDragon@slrpnk.net on 26 Aug 2024 06:58 collapse

Alas! Moths.