Young spittlebugs feed by sucking juice from plants. Some of this juice passes through their bodies and oozes as bubbles from openings on their bodies. The bubbles don't burst easily, so they quickly pile up. Sometimes these young spittlebugs are completely covered with bubbles.
Handsome finches win a boost for their offspring
Handsome finches win a boost for their offspring Studies on birds show that the female's
contribution to the health and survival of their offspring may be
more important than previously thought. Female Zebra finches
deposit more of the sex hormone ‘testosterone’ in their
eggs when they are mated with males who have showy feathers than
they would have if they had mated with males who they find less
attractive. Attaching red or green bands onto the legs of male
finches showed researchers that red was a preferred colour for
females, and they found that there was more testosterone deposited
in the eggs fathered by red-banded finches. Depositing more
testosterone into an egg gives the young chick a survival boost.
Chicks who have received more than the usual amount of testosterone
grow more quickly and beg harder for food than their
nestmates. OCTOBER 1, 1999, P. 23
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