343
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Zehzin@lemmy.world 99 points 6 months ago

99% is pretty impressive, most species have 100% mortality rate

[-] Shawdow194@kbin.social 38 points 6 months ago

That's an interesting point!

Any animal that changes or metamorphosises into a different animal technically has a less than 100% mortality rate

[-] fossphi@lemm.ee 9 points 6 months ago

Hmm, interesting indeed! I get what you're trying to say, but I would also tend to believe that it's still the same animal? If not that, then wouldn't the caterpillar cease to exist when it metamorphosised into something else?

[-] Albbi@lemmy.ca 7 points 6 months ago

Caterpillar is not actually an animal though, it's a stage of life.

[-] fossphi@lemm.ee 2 points 6 months ago

Aah indeed, now I'm aware :)

[-] Shawdow194@kbin.social 5 points 6 months ago

I would also lean closer towards 'same animal' but its physical morphology undergoes such drastic changes its definitely blurred lines

Psychologically I think there are tests that show butterflies and moths retain memories from pre-metamorphisis stages

Metaphysical questions are so cool just because we may never be able to answer them!!!

[-] fossphi@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

As mentioned in one of the comments, since caterpillar is just a stage of life, I guess it isn't as much of a contradiction/paradox then.

But yes, stuff like this is loads of fun! :D

[-] DroneRights@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

Animals are a social construct

[-] DroneRights@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

This is why the infant mortality rate isn't 100%

[-] Cralder@feddit.nu 32 points 6 months ago

"Caterpillar" is not a species. It's a stage of some animals' life cycle. It means 99% of catepillars die before they become butterflies or moths or whatever

[-] NoSpotOfGround@lemmy.world 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

So caterpillars do have a chance to be "immortal" and transcend instead to a superior state of existence* at the end of their time. Whoa.

*that is, unfortunately, very mortal.

[-] averagedrunk@lemmy.ml 5 points 6 months ago

I wish it were 100% in tomato hornworms. Seeing that 99% of them die before turning into moths makes me think all of the surviving ones just hang out in my garden.

I think noting caterpillar is the same as say infant death rate for humans

this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
343 points (99.1% liked)

Science Memes

9262 readers
1025 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS