Episode 111 - Eusociality

The Common Descent Podcast

Common Descent

Science, Education, Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences, Science:natural Sciences

4.8 • 764 Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2021

⏱️ 130 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There isn’t much on Earth quite like an ant colony or a beehive. Lots of animals are social, but relatively few are eusocial. It’s a bizarre lifestyle, living in large multi-generational colonies with lots of members who don’t reproduce but instead dedicate their lives to protecting and nourishing the offspring of the few reproducers. In this episode, we discuss the many questions surrounding this phenomenon, including how many times this trait has evolved, why it’s apparently so beneficial, and exactly how natural selection could even produce such a strange lifestyle. In the news: venom evolution, pointy things, early rainforests, and bone origins. Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:05:00Main discussion, Part 1: 00:39:00Main discussion, Part 2: 01:15:00Patron question: 02:02:00 Check out our blog for bonus info and pictures:http://commondescentpodcast.wordpress.com/ Find merch at the Common Descent Store! http://zazzle.com/common_descent Follow and Support us on: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/commondescentpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/CommonDescentPCFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/commondescentpodcastInstagram: @commondescentpodcast YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCePRXHEnZmTGum2r1l2mduwPodBean: https://commondescentpodcast.podbean.com/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-descent-podcast/id1207586509?mt=2 The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org. Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Common Descent Podcast.
0:18.8	Hello, David.
0:19.8	Hello, Will.
0:21.0	And hello, listeners.
0:22.4	Welcome to the Connocent Podcast, episode 111.
0:26.3	What a satisfying number.
0:27.8	Right, 1-1-1.
0:29.1	1-1.
0:30.4	Well, for 1-1, we are discussing the topic of U-Socality.
0:35.1	Ooh, I think perhaps there is some sort of joke to be made about a series of singular units operating as a whole.
0:42.2	I do like that.
0:42.9	One-one-one, like we planned it, of course.
0:44.9	Yes, absolutely.
0:45.7	Hang on, edit this again, and we'll do it again and we'll make it sound like we plan it.
0:50.1	What's use sociality?
0:51.4	Use sociality or true sociality, as it's sometime called, is the highest level of social interaction
0:58.8	in animals.
1:01.1	It's how you'll often hear it described.
1:03.1	This is the phenomena of a group of organisms working together as a massive hole where you have ants, bees, termites, those
1:14.4	classic examples that are working in mass to benefit the group, not just the individuals,
1:22.0	and often sacrificing the survival or benefits of the individuals over the group.
1:28.7	Right. The classic animals that live in hives and colonies.
	...

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