• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Androgynous Snails

Androgynous Snails

October 20, 2010
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/101020_sciup_snai.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):
Androgynous snails. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

To fend off relentless sexual advances, some female sea snails actually hide their gender. This according to researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Marine ecologist Kerstin Johannesson explains that male snails find females by tracking feminine chemicals in their mucus trails. But in one kind of periwinkle snail, the females confuse the males by leaving gender-neutral trails.

KERSTIN JOHANNESSON (University of Gothenburg, Sweden):
That’s of course a problem for them, so they quite often end up trying to mate other males.

HIRSHON:
Johannesson notes that this species lives in dense communities, and mates once or twice a day all year round. And every time they mate, they’re exposed to predators. She suspects that if the females didn’t keep a low profile, they’d be approached far more often, and incur more risk without any biological benefit. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily Show
Previous Post:Teamwork Roundup
Next Post:24-Hour Colds

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos