"No, I don't want a candle that smells like turkey, because, well, we'll be cooking turkey. Nor do I want a sunrise alarm clock that mimics natural light, because I can leave the curtains open. And I definitely don't want a salmon DNA pink collagen jelly mask (Good Housekeeping's Best for Beauty Lovers), because said DNA comes from milt. AKA semen. If I wanted fish sperm on my face, I would tickle some pollocks."
"Humans didn't invent gifting. The practice has been around for at least 100m years, long before our species evolved. With a little help from natural selection, this has given wild animals ample time to perfect the art of giving. Hell, some spiders even gift-wrap! Excluding exercise-related items and other things I don't like, there are five categories of Christmas gift: food, things for the home, bling, skincare and clothing."
"Some insects gift their beaus spitballs, but these aren't just any spitballs. These are scorpionfly spitballs, crafted with the freshest saliva from the engorged labial glands of only the fittest males. The delicacy is nutrient-dense, which is one of the reasons females prefer males with big balls. Male scorpionfly with a sizeable tail. Photograph: Ger Bosma/Getty Images Another reason is that the fittest males make the biggest spitballs, and when I say fit I don't mean looks great in a leather jacket (although th"
Gifting occurs across many animal groups and arose long before humans, shaped by natural selection. Gift types map onto five categories: food, items for the home, decorative tokens, grooming substances, and clothing-like materials. Examples include Brazilian cuckoos delivering high-protein prey, great grey shrikes impaling prey on thorns to create caches, and some spiders presenting wrapped offerings. Several insects produce elaborate nutritive nuptial gifts, such as scorpionfly males that secrete nutrient-rich saliva balls from engorged labial glands. Female preference often favors males that provide larger or higher-quality gifts, reflecting sexual selection acting on gift quality.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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