Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

Elephants smell better by pointing trunks toward possible foes

Elephants can apparently smell and see which humans might be out to get them, research now suggests.

As elephants roam Amboseli National Park in Kenya within sight of famed Mt. Kilimanjaro, they may run afoul of members of the Maasai or Kamba tribes. While the Kamba nowadays threaten only elephants that invade their farmland, Maasai warriors occasionally show off their virility by spearing elephants.

Since elephants face different levels of peril from people depending on their tribe, scientists reasoned elephants might use their senses to distinguish who might be dangerous. For instance, the pachyderms might rely on their eyesight—Maasai traditionally wear red shawls.

The scientists also deduced that elephants might employ their keen sense of smell to distinguish Maasai from Kamba. Their body odors likely differ because Maasai eat substantial amounts of milk and occasionally cattle blood and beef while the Kamba diet consists of vegetables and maize, along with some meat. Also, unlike the Kamba, the Maasai use ochre and sheep fat in body decorations.

The researchers had heard of several instances of elephants reacting "to even faint signals of Maasai, with elephants running away from Maasai men that were several kilometers away," said cognitive psychologist Lucy Bates at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The pachyderms even stayed away from a vehicle "for several days after Maasai men had been carried in it."

-- CHARLES Q. CHOI

Oscar Wilde did not say, on his deathbed, "Either those curtains go or I do." He is reported to have said something along the lines of "this wallpaper will be the death of me - one of us will have to go", but not on his deathbed.

-- THE GUARDIAN

Grandpas are easy to explain; they can potentially propagate their genes until they fall out of their rocking chairs. It's those fit-as-a-fiddle but infertile grandmas who are the evolutionary riddle.

And human grandmothers are apparently unique.

This idea that natural selection might favor a group rather than individuals is controversial in biology. So too is the idea that human evolution should be dramatically different from that of our close mammalian and primate relations.

So a bit of mystery remains. Is the gap between menopause and senescence an adaption of natural selection, perhaps because it favors the group? Or do women in human populations simply survive longer than female primates and lions because they are better able to avoid predators and other premature causes of death?

-- CHET RAYMO

A man has been placed on the sex offenders’ register after being caught trying to have sex with a bicycle.

-- RICHARD ALLEYNE

"You ignore your partner's sexual fantasies at your own peril."

Yes I wrote that in last week's post on 'How to keep your woman' but as I typed it, I realised that it was a subject which demanded further exploration.

Sexual fantasies: we all have 'em, some of them are weird, some of them are plain scary, some are so damn hot they haunt you on your way to work because they involve ferries and honey-skinned, brunette office girls in sharply-pressed white cotton shirts with long smooth . . . ahem.

The best part about fantasies is they are your own; you don't have to share them with other people, you can involve celebrities, historical figures, heavy machinery, even family pets if you're so inclined.

However, fantasies can cause couples trouble - they have a monotonous habit of luring men and women into infidelity because of the powerful urge to see them realised and a partner's refusal to come to the party (with the gaffa-taped guinea pig).

-- SAM de BRITO

Photograph by K. Slocombe