• gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 day ago

    also btw i read somewhere that Musth (the manic episode) can be shortened down to approximately 2 weeks when the elephants are restrained (with a metal chain) and practically starved a bit (given very little food) for a while. (they survive ofc)

  • IDraw4u@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    Well because of how “evolution” - it makes you produce more babies than the others that didn’t fuck and kill. So… That.

    • plyth@feddit.org
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      2 days ago

      So… Why?

      E.g. does it drive predators away and their offspring has a higher chance of survival?

      • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Animals that fuck more propagate their genes more. If they’re also violent, they’re probably taking out their competitors, and the non-violent ones are likely first to go.

  • [email protected]@sh.itjust.works
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    3 days ago

    The rhinoceros beetle says “check this slab of HOT bug SEX sitting before you upon a stick. My stick. No one else may perch upon my throne, my lair, my kingdom, lest they be smote upon the ground like so much errant detritus. I am a fucking god.” Sex appeal is weird across the animal kingdom.

  • AppleTea@lemmy.zip
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    3 days ago

    elephant pregnancy lats 22 months

    makes sense that elephant psychosis would last longer too

      • Dale@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Real reason is males are mostly solitary and elephant territories are enormous. Being horny for months gives the males enough motivation to seek out the herd of women and children over the long distances.

      • AppleTea@lemmy.zip
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        2 days ago

        elephants have an unusually long gestation period (and not just for their size, whales are typically only pregnant for about 12 months) Researchers think its necessary to give their brains time to fully develop, of which they have the outright largest of any land mammal and a body-to-brain ratio that rivals our own.

        As for psychosis, I’ve been told that for people it typical lasts about a month from whatever triggers it. Maybe the bigger brain would mean it needs more time for the… psychosis(?)… to work through… whatever it’s doing? Honestly, it’s probably not whats happening with the elephants. They sounded superficially similar, so I made a glib comment about it.

  • Griffus@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    If we hadn’t already nuked ourselves by slaughtering the bees, and the bees suddenly took 80 % of our living space from us to expand their own, we’d be nuking them.

    The fascinating part is, why aren’t the smart, massive matriarchs ordering all humans stomped on sight?