Political Memes

animal behaviorists are finding that what they first perceived as lack of functional importance often has dazzling significance after all.

the sand scorpion seems to emerge from its burrow and just stand around waiting for a meal to happen by. But Oregon State University zoologist Philip Brownell has discovered that the scorpion has receptors on its feet that sense approaching insects from several inches away by detecting minute disturbances of the desert.

The polar bear often naps next to a seal's breathing hole with one paw cocked for a lethal swipe. Alligators have floating slumber parties beneath heron rookeries during nesting season, waiting for hapless fledglings and jostled eggs. The female fence lizard, which is "at rest" 98 percent of the time, spends that time in the energizing sun within a tongue's dart of smorgasbord rest stops for passing insects.

The African lion, which University of Minnesota zoologist Anne Pusey says can eat 66 pounds at a sitting and then lie around on its back for several days digesting the meal, is another strategic loafer: It does most of that lying around in the shade, near a waterhole, with one eye open to potential next meals.

So is there anything at all to animal laziness? Do wild creatures ever just plain loaf? Not, says Cornell biologist Paul Sherman, from the point of view of evolutionary biologists.