They dont. It just happens that natural selection favored flowers that looked vaguely bird like and over time, flowers that looked more and more like a bird outcompeted the ones that looked less like one.
this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2024
894 points (97.5% liked)
Science Memes
10940 readers
2063 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
- Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
- Keep it rooted (on topic).
- No spam.
- Infographics welcome, get schooled.
This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Research Committee
Other Mander Communities
Science and Research
Biology and Life Sciences
- !abiogenesis@mander.xyz
- !animal-behavior@mander.xyz
- !anthropology@mander.xyz
- !arachnology@mander.xyz
- !balconygardening@slrpnk.net
- !biodiversity@mander.xyz
- !biology@mander.xyz
- !biophysics@mander.xyz
- !botany@mander.xyz
- !ecology@mander.xyz
- !entomology@mander.xyz
- !fermentation@mander.xyz
- !herpetology@mander.xyz
- !houseplants@mander.xyz
- !medicine@mander.xyz
- !microscopy@mander.xyz
- !mycology@mander.xyz
- !nudibranchs@mander.xyz
- !nutrition@mander.xyz
- !palaeoecology@mander.xyz
- !palaeontology@mander.xyz
- !photosynthesis@mander.xyz
- !plantid@mander.xyz
- !plants@mander.xyz
- !reptiles and amphibians@mander.xyz
Physical Sciences
- !astronomy@mander.xyz
- !chemistry@mander.xyz
- !earthscience@mander.xyz
- !geography@mander.xyz
- !geospatial@mander.xyz
- !nuclear@mander.xyz
- !physics@mander.xyz
- !quantum-computing@mander.xyz
- !spectroscopy@mander.xyz
Humanities and Social Sciences
Practical and Applied Sciences
- !exercise-and sports-science@mander.xyz
- !gardening@mander.xyz
- !self sufficiency@mander.xyz
- !soilscience@slrpnk.net
- !terrariums@mander.xyz
- !timelapse@mander.xyz
Memes
Miscellaneous
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
What's funny is how absurd this is. Most flowers don't look like birds and they're fine.
This has nothing to do with natural selection. It's just a coincidence that the buds very shortly and from a specific angle vaguely look like birds.
Most of the images shared are probably photoshopped to enhance the effect too.
load more comments
(1 replies)
It's about tiny percents.
A bird will land on a flower.
A bird will not land on a bird.
So every one in a million time a bird mistakes a flower for a bird, that's a flower that survives.
All you have to do is wait a couple million years for the odds to turn in the bird flower's favor.
load more comments
(4 replies)
Right, but what about the mimic plant? It mimicks whatever plant is near it. And it can mimic plastic plants. https://www.vox.com/down-to-earth/2022/11/30/23473062/plant-mimicry-boquila-trifoliolata
load more comments
(1 replies)
"Appear to look like"...
I wonder what they look like if you manage to ignore the appearances.
My guess would be Yulan magnolia blossoms.
Animals are something plants invented to help spread their seeds around.
Know what's wild? For millions of years nothing around ate trees, so when a tree grew and died and fell it was permanently there because there was no rot. Which is how we got petrified forests.
load more comments
(2 replies)
Life in general is most likely something the universe invented to speed up entropy.
Life is a natural part of entropy for sure.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Why do plants know how birds look
The potatoes told them. (Potatoes have eyes)
load more comments
(2 replies)
"..how birds look like.."
Just one of many issues with the English here.
- what it looks like
- how it looks
You need to pick a lane.
I typically assume it's a non-native speaker with things like this, but I'm not sure in this case.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I'd read this with commas around 'like', rather than with a period after it: "... how birds look, like, I'm afraid" works as a sentence while "... how birds look like. I'm afraid" is both wrong, like you point out, but also sounds much more serious than the jokey tone I'd expect from a message without punctuation and capitalization
load more comments
(1 replies)
Did you understand what was being communicated? Yes? Congratulations!
Because, really, that's generally all that's necessary.
MY PARSER BROKE
load more comments
(3 replies)
More evidence birds aren't real
The evidence is building, I can no longer deny
There are a lot of weird flowers out there
Evolution is wonderfull
The lizard vine is a fake
The fruit is, but not the plant, scientific name: Tetrastigma voinieranum, common names: Chestnut Vine, Lizard Vine, Wild Grape
My aunt had one of these but she watered it too much and it drowned. lmao
Annihilation vibes
I rewatched Annihilation recently. That fucking bear scene still haunts me. Great film.
load more comments
(4 replies)
droning sounds intensify
Doesn't this imply that the flower is polinated by bird cocks. Think about it a bird fucks one flower or starts to before realizing, and then later he fucks annother flower thus spreading the pollen of the first flower.
No, it just implies that it was adaptive to look like a bird.
It could be for any number of reasons, including because aliens exist and years ago they were like "let's screw up all the plants in this area for generations" until the leader's kid saw one that kind of looked like little birds and threw themselves in front of it and said "wait, no, spare this one."
load more comments
(2 replies)
That question below is honestly a good way to demonstrate how bad people can be at understanding what would be called materialism without it being explained to them first
Easy to assume the shape of that flower is due to decisions made by the plant itself instead of the more accurate way of understanding its shape being the result of external conditions and pressures acting upon the plant and its flower growth over a long time
load more comments
(1 replies)
How do you know it's not a bird trying to look like a plant? Y'know to evade predators and all...
load more comments
(1 replies)
Why are people so unfathomably dumb, like, I'm afraid.
Yeah, some people can't even recognize a joke.
Right, anytime anyone fucks up it's sarcasm, anytime anyone is dumb, it's a joke, nothing is real, everything is a cake.
Irony poisoning
That sounds serious
Fe-real
i like cake
“Science memes”
load more comments
(1 replies)
People don't get the timescale of an evolutionary feature like this. And how long it was only kinda bird like.
Intuitively understanstanding evolution is something most people dont need so i cant really fault people for it. But yeah either trolling or actually stupid who knows.
I do wish that the personification of evolution wasn't such a thing. People so often attribute reasoning or intention to the process, when there is no such thing.
Wait until they advance and start thinking about things like, how did plants find out what bees like to eat. This will spook them to mind-blown town.
Intuitively understanstanding evolution is something most people dont need so i cant really fault people for it.
LOL, how meta ("people haven't evolved to understand evolution").
load more comments
(2 replies)
Still looks like a fake
view more: next ›