A typical conversation

A typical conversation with friend from HKU. This time on pandas. Good way to spend a nice Saturday morning.

CH
oh, by and by, was talking to a post doc about pandas

Bankai
uh huh

CH
he was commenting, the sexual inefficiency could be an evolutionary trait to the physiological inefficiency to ensure species survival
»
quite.... interesting

Bankai
HOW?

CH
less breeding less animals to compete lah

Bankai
hmmm.... you dun see koalas or sloths behaving this way

CH
u know how much resource EACH panda need or not?

Bankai
or slow loris
yah i know
hmmm yes interesting concept

CH
Hv mah. u see how koalas are affected by their diet choice?

Bankai
yes they are lethargic

CH
if not the competition and depletion rate would hv be doubled as least

Bankai
but they still mate.
true
»
but it should select for slow reproduction frequency, not shyness wat....

CH
u can't pull an analogy across the board that way also mah
arguement wise
should only focus on panda and their lifestyle

Bankai
yah true

CH
well, isn't it more appropriate to hv a psychological change rather than a physiological change?

Bankai
genes man

CH
the amount of rebuilding needed

Bankai
what gene code for pyschological change?
if there is, then it is evolution,

CH
i would say it's basically hormonal

Bankai
if not, its an acquired character.

CH
so we are talking about quantity change at most

Bankai
hmmm true

CH
physiological change involves rebuilding of physical structure

Bankai
but resources are still there

CH
they are FURTHER endangered by human destruction
but on their own, without these inefficiency traits

Bankai
is there an adequate selection pressure to favor this hormonal change

CH
they would hv bred themselves to extinction

Bankai
and is there enough time

CH
'cos there's no predation on them
they didn't become sexually inefficiency only now wat

Bankai
statement imply that pandas know/ sense they are endangered
which might not be the case

CH
it's not a post human intervention trait
»
no, i never said that
»
i jus said they hv survived to the stage of being endangered by humans b'cos they could maintain a small stock till now
»
and that might be due to the sexual reproduction inefficiency
10:14

Bankai
ah true

CH
case of otherwise they would hv bred themselves to death b4 we came around
or evolved to something else

Bankai
ok i accept that.

still trying to grapple how the selection favor non horny pandas.
cos if you let them run loose, horny pandas would have bred more. and then dominate non horny ones
then all die before humans came about. :P

CH
haha... a two strategy at play loh... not all pandas are horny, but some are to propagate the species

Bankai
how did the horny ones become less dominant

CH
so we talking about proportion

Bankai
but you look mathematically, all of them being alike, but one bred faster than other
the faster breeding one would have dominated wat,
resources being abundant or not.

CH
u forgot the female factor
»
horny panda may not equate to successful breeding also mah

Bankai
yah i agree
10:17
»
but question is what favors less horny pandas

CH
i am not too sure if females will comsume their young in resource competition
10:17

Bankai
we see in hindsight that yes, less resource competition.
10:17

CH
it's known to be so in rodents, and panda ARE omnivoures

it could be a control measure post reproduction to keep horny gene at check too
10:18
»
less horny panda, less babies
10:18

Bankai
true
10:18

CH
less competition, more survival rate, panda are territorial
so u secure an area of survival in non-horny panda areas
and a population kept in check for horny areas with resource limitation

Bankai
AND the population remains viable!
oko k
10:19

CH
it just might equate out
10:19

Bankai
yes yes hahahah
yes it might