Sex and Relationships

How can I resist such topics – among everyone’s favourites, right? No, I’ll stay away from my own take on the subjects and move straight on to pointing you to two rather amusing pieces.

The first, which I found in a post of Sheril’s over on the Intersection, is a YouTube upload of a well-known and marvellous educational video by Randy Olson from 1991 about marine biology, focusing on the sex life of the barnacle. (NYTimes article on him here.) Here’s the video:

The second is also about biological matters. Symbiotic relationships. Here’s a piece from the Onion that gives a rather good take on the whole thing, focussing on the Rhino and the tickbird, sprinkling in some amusing relationship clichés. Extract:

“Feed off the embedded ticks on his hide, chirp when the predators come. Feed off the embedded ticks on his hide, chirp when the predators come. Where’s the passion, the heat?” the tickbird continued.

The tickbird also accused the rhino of trying to make her “feel small.”

“He doesn’t realize everything I do for him,” the tickbird said. “If it wasn’t for my ‘incessant squawking,’ as he calls it, he would be shot by poachers before he even saw them coming.”

Both creatures separately expressed envy of their neighbors, a plover and crocodile, who “never seem to have the problems we do,” the rhino said.

“That crocodile appreciates having his teeth cleaned, and he makes sure she knows,” the tickbird said. “Look at that big grin.”

The rhino said that he often feels like a victim of her nitpicking.

“I might look tough, but I have feelings,” the rhino said. “I give her plenty to eat and a great place to perch, but it feels like she’s constantly pecking an open wound. Ugh, why can’t we just be friends with mutualistic benefits?”

The full article is here.

I also stumbled on a PBS classroom activity worksheet on symbiotic relationships that makes for amusing skimming in the light of the onion piece.

enjoy!

-cvj