Community collectives, epic granaries, and quirky breeding tactics
November 10, 2017 2:49 AM Subscribe
The Acorn Woodpecker is one of the most interesting birds in North America. A short documentary by bioGraphic describes their granaries, and the unusual family structures that may show that cooperation can be good evolutionary sense.
I had no idea these little guys had such a complex family structure. Some crow species have young "helpers" who stick around to help at their nest for awhile, and I've heard of ducks of the same species sneaking eggs into another female's nest, but never heard of anything more complicated than that.
posted by sacchan at 3:56 AM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by sacchan at 3:56 AM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I just read The Social Conquest of Earth and in it Wilson argues that the sibling genetics argument presented here is not enough to explain cooperation. How are his views seen today in the evolutionary biology world?
posted by macrael at 8:00 AM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by macrael at 8:00 AM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Barely a mention of the epic squirrel-woodpecker battles that play out all over the coast this time of year.
I was always surprised how often the squirrels lost.
posted by The Power Nap at 8:31 AM on November 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
I was always surprised how often the squirrels lost.
posted by The Power Nap at 8:31 AM on November 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
Best not to picnic directly under a granary, I've learned. The woodpeckers are comically dedidicated to pursuing squirrels, as The Power Nap alluded. It's great picnic TV.
As the chaos carries from tree to tree through the canopy, squirrel scrambling, woodpecker indignantly pursuing, onlooking scrub jay wondering if they'll ever give it a rest, hundreds of acorns rain down, most of the same ones that rained down yesterday, and will rain down tomorrow once painstakingly re-collected and restored one by one until the next squirrel comes along. One can't help but wonder whether it would be more cost-effective to simply buy off the squirrel with a few dozen acorns, and save a bundle on restocking, parts, and labor.
Then one catches oneself thinking these very thoughts and smiles at yet another reason they love the great outdoors. Here's to woodpecker and gathering societies!
posted by Flippervault at 9:23 AM on November 10, 2017 [4 favorites]
As the chaos carries from tree to tree through the canopy, squirrel scrambling, woodpecker indignantly pursuing, onlooking scrub jay wondering if they'll ever give it a rest, hundreds of acorns rain down, most of the same ones that rained down yesterday, and will rain down tomorrow once painstakingly re-collected and restored one by one until the next squirrel comes along. One can't help but wonder whether it would be more cost-effective to simply buy off the squirrel with a few dozen acorns, and save a bundle on restocking, parts, and labor.
Then one catches oneself thinking these very thoughts and smiles at yet another reason they love the great outdoors. Here's to woodpecker and gathering societies!
posted by Flippervault at 9:23 AM on November 10, 2017 [4 favorites]
Hey, I just saw one of these in my backyard earlier this week! I knew it was a woodpecker, didn't know what kind. Excited to watch the video, thanks for posting.
posted by namewithoutwords at 9:43 AM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by namewithoutwords at 9:43 AM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I just read The Social Conquest of Earth and in it Wilson argues that the sibling genetics argument presented here is not enough to explain cooperation. How are his views seen today in the evolutionary biology world?
Apologies for the paywalled links, but a brief answer to your question can be gathered even if you can't read behind the paywall:
Wilson published this article along with two co-authors in Nature in 2010 This article is a critique of inclusive fitness theory - which you refer to as the "sibling genetics argument".
In response, over 100 authors co-authored this response in Nature. These >100 authors include several prominent academics including the textbook authors of textbooks that I teach across multiple subjects in biology. I mean, yeah, E. O. Wilson is a giant in the field, but the folks listed here are also researchers at the very top of their respective disciplines. This is a defense of inclusive fitness theory.
It's certainly a debate, and while there are several that share E.O. Wilson's perspective - my read on the situation is that most academics in the evolutionary biology world would disagree with Wilson. That is, for those folks, inclusive fitness theory is still valued as a useful model for understanding the evolution of cooperative behavior.
posted by cnanderson at 9:48 AM on November 10, 2017 [8 favorites]
Apologies for the paywalled links, but a brief answer to your question can be gathered even if you can't read behind the paywall:
Wilson published this article along with two co-authors in Nature in 2010 This article is a critique of inclusive fitness theory - which you refer to as the "sibling genetics argument".
In response, over 100 authors co-authored this response in Nature. These >100 authors include several prominent academics including the textbook authors of textbooks that I teach across multiple subjects in biology. I mean, yeah, E. O. Wilson is a giant in the field, but the folks listed here are also researchers at the very top of their respective disciplines. This is a defense of inclusive fitness theory.
It's certainly a debate, and while there are several that share E.O. Wilson's perspective - my read on the situation is that most academics in the evolutionary biology world would disagree with Wilson. That is, for those folks, inclusive fitness theory is still valued as a useful model for understanding the evolution of cooperative behavior.
posted by cnanderson at 9:48 AM on November 10, 2017 [8 favorites]
I was always surprised how often the squirrels lost.
Back when I lived in Texas I always had birdbaths that were refilled daily. Everything that visited them gave woodpeckers a wide berth.
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:08 AM on November 10, 2017
Back when I lived in Texas I always had birdbaths that were refilled daily. Everything that visited them gave woodpeckers a wide berth.
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:08 AM on November 10, 2017
That second link could definitely use a trypophobia trigger warning!
posted by memewit at 10:12 AM on November 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by memewit at 10:12 AM on November 10, 2017 [3 favorites]
I used to live in a log house at the 4000-foot level of the Sierras, east of Fresno. We had a shake roof (cedar shakes), which acorn woodpeckers discovered was a perfect place to store their stash. Of course they split my shakes so badly that the roof had to be repaired annually.
They were audacious and relentless, the little bastards. Next place I lived in the mountains had composition shingles on the roof, and we got along just fine with the woodpecker colony.
posted by mule98J at 10:48 AM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
They were audacious and relentless, the little bastards. Next place I lived in the mountains had composition shingles on the roof, and we got along just fine with the woodpecker colony.
posted by mule98J at 10:48 AM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
Heh, I was thinking of that, memewit. I didn't want to look at some of those pictures for long!
posted by tavella at 11:05 AM on November 10, 2017
posted by tavella at 11:05 AM on November 10, 2017
It's a work in progress, but if you add the genes of (transmissible!) microbiomes to models of inclusive fitness, and on top of that the modulation of microbiomes by shared immune system genes and the feedback of the microbiomes on those immune system genes, I think inclusive fitness comes out looking pretty robust.
posted by jamjam at 3:20 PM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by jamjam at 3:20 PM on November 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I just read The Social Conquest of Earth and in it Wilson argues that the sibling genetics argument presented here is not enough to explain cooperation. How are his views seen today in the evolutionary biology world?
They have strong if not fond memories of Wilson's older brother as "that guy that would raid your parents' cupboard and eat the last bag of chips-ahoy cookies in its entirety in less than ten minutes! He's a human vacuum, man! A human vacuum! Not even crumbs were left!"
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:10 PM on November 10, 2017
They have strong if not fond memories of Wilson's older brother as "that guy that would raid your parents' cupboard and eat the last bag of chips-ahoy cookies in its entirety in less than ten minutes! He's a human vacuum, man! A human vacuum! Not even crumbs were left!"
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:10 PM on November 10, 2017
Such a coincidence -- for some reason, I was curious about Woody Woodpecker, perhaps 'cause I've been hearing woodpeckers in my neighborhood. So I'd just looked him up in Wikipedia, where I learned not only that he's an Acorn Woodpecker, but that his origin involves one boring holes in the roof of Walter Lantz's cabin in the Santa Monica Mountains, similar to mule98J's experience.
posted by Rash at 8:23 PM on November 10, 2017
posted by Rash at 8:23 PM on November 10, 2017
« Older Christmas is finally here | The end of cheap postal rates from China to Canada Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by cnanderson at 3:50 AM on November 10, 2017 [5 favorites]