{"id":14099,"date":"2009-12-10T15:06:08","date_gmt":"2009-12-10T22:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=14099"},"modified":"2015-08-17T14:50:40","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T21:50:40","slug":"nau-biologist-explores-bizarre-give-and-take-between-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nau-biologist-explores-bizarre-give-and-take-between-species\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU biologist explores bizarre give-and-take between species"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Marty<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The natural world is full of unusual relationships\u2014vampire bats that regurgitate blood for roosting buddies, reptiles that enforce chastity on their lovers, Capuchin monkeys that use millipede secretions as mosquito repellent.<\/p>\n

Such negotiation between life-forms striving to survive is evolution at its most diverse, entertaining and awe-inspiring.<\/p>\n

In her new book,\u00a0Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers,\u00a0<\/em>Northern Arizona University adjunct biology professor and tropical field biologist\u00a0Marty Crump<\/strong>\u00a0takes readers on a voyage of discovery into the world of extraordinary interactions involving animals, plants, fungi and bacteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have purposely focused on unusual, often bizarre relationships within and between species because I find them fascinating, amazing, often inspiring,\u201d said Crump, who conducts all of her research in South America. She currently is working on a collaborative project with Darwin\u2019s frogs in Chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

\"Alan<\/a>
An oxpecker rests after a thorough de-ticking session on an impala. Oxpeckers have a cooperative relationship with various large mammals including hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, wart hogs, zebras, elephants, giraffes and buffalo. Illustration by Alan Crump<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Sexy Orchids\u00a0<\/em>illuminates the ceaseless give-and-take between species. Occasionally both interacting parties benefit, like when hornbills and dwarf mongooses hunt together for food. Other times, one individual benefits and the other is neither helped nor harmed, such as with orchids that mimic the shape and smell of female insects to dupe male insects into pollinating them without the benefit of nectar in return. But sometimes one individual benefits at the expense of the other, as with jackal flies that steal food captured in the webs of orb-weaving spiders.<\/p>\n

Some of the more unusual examples in Crump\u2019s book include mites that hitch-hike in hummingbird nostrils, male long-tailed macaques that \u201cpay\u201d females for sex by grooming them, and the assortment of animals that use plants for medicines, stimulants and hallucinogens.<\/p>\n

Sexy Orchids<\/em>\u00a0is a sequel of sorts to Crump\u2019s previous book,\u00a0Headless Males Make Great Lovers<\/em>. The latter focuses on unusual natural history in general: mating games, parental care, food and feeding, defense and communication. In\u00a0Sexy Orchids<\/em>, Crump focuses on unusual relationships within and between species in the hopes that readers will gain a greater appreciation for natural history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is full of amazing interactions between and among living organisms,\u201d Crump said.
\n\u201cThe more we know about these relationships, the better we appreciate the fact that we are all interconnected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers<\/em>\u00a0was published last month by the University of Chicago Press. Read an excerpt from the book\u00a0online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The natural world is full of unusual relationships\u2014vampire bats that regurgitate blood for roosting buddies, reptiles that enforce chastity on their lovers, Capuchin monkeys that use millipede secretions as mosquito repellent. Such negotiation between life-forms striving to survive is evolution at its most diverse, entertaining and awe-inspiring. In her new book,\u00a0Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers,\u00a0Northern…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-staff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14099\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}