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Zo-limericks, Katzen und Doggerell Being observations of bio-oddities gone from bad to verse in the limerick form. Unexpected Guests As hostess sweet Suzi would boast, That she served lots of sushi, the most. But the worms in her gut-- And a few in her nut-- Feel this lady sure makes a great host. There are indeed at least a few parasitic worms capable of leaving an uncooked meal and taking up residence in one's brain--among other places. Giddy Whorl  Rotifer gals shun the macho, it seems, And act out fond feminist dreams. With feet but no legs They lay amictic eggs Thus banishing guys from their schemes.   Some populations of rotifers (microscopic but multicellular animals) for many generations consist only of females who lay diploid eggs that develop unfertilized into females who lay diploid eggs that...etc.   Out of Africa Said Bogey to Kate on the 'Queen,' "I hate all these leeches we've seen. I don't mind the pricking, But feel that their sticking Me for the drinks is obscene." Who can forget the courage of Charlie Allnut sliding over the side of "The African Queen" into swampy, leech-infested water to drag the steam launch a little further downstream. Reefer Madness A colonial beast is the coral Whose looks are deceptively floral: They've many mouths, but Share only one gut And elimination is oral. Its often a puzzle when an animal reproduces by budding (a self-cloning process) to decide if the result is many animals or still just one. Any of the parts could separate and operate independent of the others.  Preemptive Strike Because I might be an enemy, The paranoid sea anemone In a manner most speedy Fired off its fell cnidae In spite of having no ken of me.   Considered to be the faster animal effectors on the planet, the stinging cells (cnidae) of anemones and jelly fish are fired both offensively and defensively, triggered by touch or chemical stimuli. An Old Crappy's Advice to his Young Beware of the hagfish, young fry, Its kiss is a thing to decry. All covered in snot And tied in a knot 'Twill suck all your innerds quite dry. Hagfish (the source of "eel skin" for wallets and similar) are actually mostly scavengers whose jawless sucking mouths can produce one hell of a hickey. Their cousins the lampreys are more predatory, but "lamprey" didn't scan as well. Binary Math Amœba dear, you've a perverse mission In multipying by division: Your one leaves two (Which one is you?) And sign that reads, "Gone fission!" If an ameba divides twice and all die but one, does the original ameba still live? If so, today's surviving amebas have each been alive have been alive longer than our entire species. Spiral cleavage Spiral cleavage--O fixéd fate-- Ontogeny determinate For worms and beetles Squid and mosquitles: No twins, no mouth that opens late. Spiral--or determinant--cleavage of a fertilized ovum (zygote) produces cells with fates so programmed that if you separated the cells (instead of letting them cleave together), each would develop into half of an animal. Animals with this form of cleavage produce cannot produce identical twins in the way that we can. They also get their mouth first, anus second. Chordate Cousin Sir Lancelet ain't much like us: He cain't chew nor spit nor cuss, But notochord and slitted gills, A nervous tube (o thrill of thrills) Link us to Am-phí-ox-us. The lancelet --formerly assigned to the Genus Amphioxus, but now to Branchiostoma -- is thought to closely resemble an ancestor of all vertebrates Eugenic Solution Young Eugene had genetical blues And would Hardy and Weinberg confuse 'Til he doubled in brass And made head of the class By minding his p's and his q's. Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium is often discussed in terms of equations representing the status of gene frequencies. (e.g. p + q = 1.0) Such equations allow one to make predictions about population genetics. The so-called eugenics of past decades failed to comprehend the significance of such predictions. Chromatophores Semaphore Spermatophore Welcome A quick-handed lad is the squid, Who courts with a chromatic id. For no sooner has she Flashed, "Pass it to me," Then she gets that he already did. Male sperm package their sperm in packets delivered by hand, use elaborate pattern displays of color (though squid appear to be color-blind and miss that aspect of the show) to court females, then use a modified arm to hand off the packets in a tentacle-is-quicker-than-the-eye manner. Females may elect to discard the packet and seek elsewhere.

Mites Mate as Moth Listens The mites on a moth put the bite on her ear, But only the one 'cause they want her to hear-- Not what they might do as they meet there to mate-- But who else could be near to make them all late… As in "the-once-great-but-now-sadly-late mites that Have shared a sad fate in the jaws of a bat." A parasitic mite that favors the flavor of the tympanic membranes of moths leaves a scent trail from where it first latches onto a moth to the tympanum. The trail leads late-comers to the same "ear" which makes mite mating more likely and the destruction of both ears less likely, so the moth can hear predatory bats ranging in. Reptilian Parthenogenesis Dame Nature's played a cruel tease Upon six lizard families Whom She denies the gular lies Of conspecific lizard guys In spite of the passionate urgin's Of unbroken long lines of virgins. At least one species in each of six different lizard families of the American southwest consists of nothing but females. Males are unknown and unneeded. Pachyderm Pandemonium Elephants have got their heads on straight When it come to the matter of meeting to mate. They don't slip off quietly into the bushes Scaring calves with threats to their tushes. No putting it off 'til they're weak in the knees, No "Wait until dark, suppose somebody sees." No. No. They gather the family and friends, the whole herd Who trumpet approval and send out the word: "Here is a couple… they're coupling…hooray! "Here's an occasion to cheer the whole day." Elephant mating is not a private act. It is accompanied by a great deal of trumpeting and thundering provided by something like a cheering section of other members of the herd. Another Rhyme for Sadistic An intelligent view of cladistics Involves a good grasp of statistics .. A failure in maths .. May produce psychopaths Or a heavy reliance on mystics. Contributors to this page are welcome. Though new to cladistics Judith hit right on with this one. She also sent but doesn't claim credit for: Actually I like haiku, but: To convey meaning In seventeen syllables Is very diffic

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