N. rajah: Just a loo for shrew poo?

[walterg]

Have I, once again, been taken in by Sam's wickedly subtle humor? Kudos! I can see you now, my friend, sitting upstairs in your office laughing your ass off at my naivete'. I have seen and read so much pure bullshit published in the name of science by PhD candidates hoping to make names for themselves that nothing of this nature surprises me anymore.

[agustinfranco]

Hi all:

Thanks Walter for your quick answer. With regards to the japanes white-eyes, if these are not endemic to the Hawaiian islands, and these are usually abundant in Indochina where some Nepenthes are naturally found, then all humans have done is to transfer natural selection from Indochina to Hawaii. That is assuming that these birds are killed by Nepenthes in regions where both of these are naturally found.

Gus

[leilani]

walterg .....
I figured you were just playing along. You really should know better.

kain ....
I was never into haiku. I always figured that it must be better in Japanese. I am of the Dr. Seuss school and have little use for poetry that does not rhyme.

agustinfranco ....
Cautious. I like that.

mikulas .....
Thank you! Thank you very much.

We have all read a good number of these sorts of pop-science articles. They are pretty well scripted in 'info-scientainment' form and, as often as not, are wrong in fact or theory. This article is wrong in just about everything. The form itself brings some credibility to the article. Who am I to question the nameless author, the nameless guy and his colleagues at the "Pons Institute"! In the "Netherlands"!

It took me about an hour to put together. My personal favorite was the amazing "coincidence of measurements" ..... "Detailed measurement revealed that once the bird is inside the pitcher it just fits." ;D

dvg ...

I see you posted this elsewhere. I expect that, before too long, I will have someone visit the nursery and relate to me how these plants trap insects in order to lure birds.

agustinfranco ....

Gus, I wish I had thought of the possibility you mention in your last post ..... 'two species removed from their natural environment resume relationship and evolutionary "path" in new home'. I would have worked it in somewhere.

[philgreen]

Well put together Sam - ha ha ha (you really do need to add a laughing 'smilie' !!

I think the fact that at least some of us believed it says a lot about some of the crap science that gets published and our general skepticism that this has caused.

I think I'll stay away on April 1st

[walterg]

It is Borneo's badass, the Raj'
The plant to which we all pay homage
We thought it ate bugs
Even lizards and slugs
Now they tell us it's a coprophage

[bobh]

Sam:
Let me add my compliments. Your composition really had the proper tone for a popular science article and read like it had been paraphrased from Dutch (or something). Very funny.

[dvg]

I think that if we get taken in from time to time, it's only because we want to believe.

But that's okay.

And I'd just add this in to my fellow Nepenthists:

Have fun with it, enjoy the ride and keep the faith.

dvg

[kain]

walterg: well, that sorta rhymes.

I knew a girl in grad. school who wrote her entire final paper for a physiology class in Dr. Seuss rhyme. It was awesome!

[walterg]

Sorta nothin! It rhymes perfectly, as long as you pronounce "homage" in French.

And to make the rhythm come out right, you have to put the strong beats on Borneo's, To, Thought, Lizards, and Tell.

[dvg]

You guys having fun yet?

If Dr. Seuss is to rule the day here, this is my foray into this madness.

'The King Has Fallen In'

That royal, revered trapper
No longer seems so dapper
The new King Loo-ie
Smells a bit shrewy
His throne's become a crapper

dvg

[leilani]

Both very nice efforts. ;D ;D

Walter ..... you gave me a new word! "coprophage".

Both would seem to be limericks (aabba) rather than Dr. Suess (anapestic).

[dvg]

Thanks Sam, I didn't realize Dr. Seuss was such an accomplished writer or even what 'anapestic' meant, for that matter.

So I googled it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss

And not only did Theodor Seuss Geisel write in anapestic tetrameter, but also amphibrachic tetrameter, trochaic tetrameter and iambic tetrameter.

And here all along I thought he was writing these silly rhyming children's books, but was missing out on this man's true genius.

Dr. Seuss' works have risen in my mind.

Imagine that, the King has slipped in the polls, but Dr. Seuss has risen...who'd a thunk it?

[kain]

walterg: yeah, but in coprophage, 'phage' is usually pronounced with a long "A", kind of like "Kain".
Whatever, it's still a good poem... err... limerick.
And 'anapestic' is a new one on me, too.
By the way, Sam, you are missing some incredible writing in free verse poetry. I know, it doesn't seem like it has the skill in technique, but I'm telling you, some of it is great.
Back to Nepenthes, now...

[Clue]

There once was a man from Kuching
Who had witnessed a curious thing
He saw on Mt. Kinabalu
Was a rajah and a shrew
The raj' smelt of the shrew's... doings...

Shrews are opportunists, no doubt. For some reason, shrews have now been using more than lowii for their business- strangely, the shrews get very little, if any, nectar. Rajah and macrophylla don't show adaptations like lowii, like the white bait on the lid, so these shrews are just using them if there's few other facilities (lowii) around, I assume.

Rajah- "Lowii is a true potty-mouth!"
Judge- "Tell that to the disturbed audience of Nep growers over there that saw your... video..."

Nice catch, Sam. That study was very... scientific.

[leilani]

I don't really like limericks that much but its a difficult pattern to shake once it gets in your head.

The "King of Nepenthes" grew
High atop Kinabalu
With a pitcher so fat
That it once caught a "rat"
Or, more likely, the "rat" was a shrew.

kain .......

I'm sure your right. I don't actually read much poetry and it is not a subject I have studied so I am probably just showing the shallowness of my experience. Still, I have tried to cultivate an appreciation of free verse and, despite my efforts, most of what I have heard strikes me as ..... way too easy. Usually a collage of sentimentality and observation without meter, rhyme or reason. It drives me crazy. I don't know what to compare it to ....... lyrics without music, music without rules, a puzzle of no design. Better therapy than literature. I want the language to sing .... give me Pope or Poe or Dr. Suess.

TO THE POINT ....

I still believe that Nepenthes pitchers are non-specific in catch. Not, in spite of their catching ants, termites, leaves, lizards, mice, feces, etc. but rather, because they catch all these things.

Examples of co-evolution and species specific mimicry abound in the world of orchids (reproduction) and it is tempting to assume similar explanatory models when talking about Nepenthes pitchers and what they catch. Still, I'm not sure this really works as it would seem to me that the evolutionary imperatives are different.