Slave holding wasps discovered

[jimmy olsen]

Is slave holding really the right word to describe this? Their are slave holding ants that seem much closer to the human ideal than this.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/newly-discovered-wasp-species-enslaves-spiders.php

Newly Discovered Wasp Species Enslaves Spiders
by Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 02.17.10
Travel & Nature

Spiders spend a lot of time crafting their webs in hopes of making a meal out of all manner of winged insect--but a recently discovered species of wasp is found to use the spider's engineering prowess to it's own advantage. Through a not yet understood chemical process, the wasps are able to, quite literally, enslave the unsuspecting spiders to build a nest for their larva, and after all that hard work, become their first meal. Sure, it seems pretty dastardly, but researchers say it's evolution.

According to a study published by a Brazilian team in the Journal of Natural History, and reported by Correio Braziliense, the newly discovered wasp species, a member of the Hymenoptera family, is able to control some spiders through a chemical process that remains a mystery.

How the Wasp Enslaves the Spider
A female wasp will target a spider and immobilize it with an unknown venom injected into its mouth--at which point the wasp lays its eggs on the spider's abdomen. When the spider revives, it seems to carry on unaffected as the wasp larvae develop.

Over the course of several days, as the larvae grows riding on the spider's body, it releases a chemical that changes the behavior of its host. Instead of its normally orderly web-pattern construction, the spider begins to build a special cocoon for the larvae--controlled by the mysterious substance they emit. According to researchers:

It may be a neurotransmitter or a potential neurotoxin that alters the behavior of the spider in building the web. This is because the spider is weaving a structure of three to four spokes and a central part of the cocoon where it will be.



Spiders Build Tough Wasp Homes
The cocoon is thought to be an ideal wasp nursery because "apparently, the structure is much more resistant to the weight of the cocoon and climatic factors such as rain."

As the wasps mature inside their custom-built home, they draw nutrients from the spider who constructed it--eventually devouring it completely when fully developed. So much for gratitude.

An Evolutionary Advantage?
While it seems like a pretty one-sided deal, scientists are hoping to better understand the evolutionary advantage of the wasp and spider relationship. According to researchers involved in the study, the behavioral change induced by the wasp may lead to new research into other species where similar influences have been observed.

Scientists also suspect that the chemicals used by the wasp may have some practical application.

    The aim is to unravel this mystery in future experiments. We know it's possible to have medicinal properties in this substance, because the compound is shown to be very strong.

Let's hope that the wasp's special enslaving chemical doesn't fall into the wrong hands, however--one day they're terrorizing our picnics, the next we could be building their houses.

[Ed Anger]

Fuck Wasps. I am already stocking up on RAID for my coming spring offensive against their nests.

[Vricklund]

This is a pretty common survival strategy for alot of different wasps. There is also a bunch of parasites, like flatworms, that "influence" their hosts.

[PDH]

WASP sucked. Fucking idiotic band.

[The Brain]

WASP sucked. Fucking idiotic band.

Why don't you fuck off.

Animal (Fuck Like A Beast)

[Darth Wagtaros]

WASPs are a blight on America. 

[viper37]

it's been posted here before.  I'm wondering if it wasn't by Malthus, our resident spider expert

[Lucidor]

This is a pretty common survival strategy for alot of different wasps. There is also a bunch of parasites, like flatworms, that "influence" their hosts.

My favorite puppet master is the toxoplasma gondii.

[Caliga]

Fuck Wasps. I am already stocking up on RAID for my coming spring offensive against their nests.

I need to do the same.

[Ed Anger]

Fuck Wasps. I am already stocking up on RAID for my coming spring offensive against their nests.

I need to do the same.

On April 1st, I will commence operations against the wasps and the rabbits. The cat will help liquidate the rabbit vermin from the fatherland.

[Jaron]

How could you?

[Ed Anger]

How could you?

They destroy the garden. They will be liquidated.

Plus, I trip in the holes they make in the yard. Fuckers.

[Capetan Mihali]

Slave-holding WASPs?     They freakin' built this country!   

[Darth Wagtaros]

Fuck Wasps. I am already stocking up on RAID for my coming spring offensive against their nests.

I need to do the same.

On April 1st, I will commence operations against the wasps and the rabbits. The cat will help liquidate the rabbit vermin from the fatherland.

Have you never seen Night of the Lepus?  That is easier said than done.

[garbon]

human ideal???