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What can we learn from spiders and how do they help us already? Why would a snail struggle to find a date and how can this help us to understand where your heart is? What makes mating difficult beyond which sperm is fastest? Our speakers this evening will discuss these matters and hopefully change your minds if you’re not currently a fan of things that creep and crawl. With guest appearances from some unusual creatures (other than the Planet Earth team, though please be aware, there will be bugs!). Join us for a night learning about animals with no legs, many legs and challenging love lives.
Handedness, body asymmetry and a snail called Jeremy
Dr Angus Davison
(Associate Professor and Reader in Evolutionary Genetics)
Most humans have their heart to the left, but about one in ten thousand is mirror-imaged. Similarly, most snail shells coil clockwise, but one in a million coils anticlockwise.
Is there a connection between the body asymmetry of snails and humans, and their handed behaviour?
In this talk, I will explain how the study of snail shell coiling can inform our understanding of our asymmetric bodies and, perhaps, our handed behaviours.
Is there a connection between the body asymmetry of snails and humans, and their handed behaviour?
In this talk, I will explain how the study of snail shell coiling can inform our understanding of our asymmetric bodies and, perhaps, our handed behaviours.
Life with eight legs: unravelling the secrets of arachnids
Dr. Sara Goodacre
(Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences)
Ella Deutsch
(PhD Student)
Spiders have often been a source of fear to us. However, they have also been revered, providing inspiration for artists and craftsmen across the world. This appreciation is certainly earned, spiders work tirelessly to reduce agricultural pest numbers and their silk and venom could be the key to new innovations in medicine. We’re living in an age of cutting-edge research, uncovering hidden complexities within our world and providing tools to uncover processes and patterns. This has led to some exciting new strides in arachnology which Sara and Ella will discuss in context of their own work.
Any which way you can: alternative tactics under sexual selection
Dr. Kate Durrant
(Lecturer in Behavioural Ecology)
The competition to survive also includes the competition to mate successfully. Evolutionarily-speaking, there is no point living to a ripe old age if you never pass your genes on. Most animals will pass their genes on through having offspring. While almost all females will be successful in being selected as a mate and having young, males often face great challenges in their quest to mate. This means that some males will have many offspring while others have very few or none at all. How does a male invest in traits, both behaviourally and physically, that will allow him to mate successfully?
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