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/sci/ - Science & Math

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10981784 No.10981784 [Reply] [Original]

What is the evolutionary advantage of myotonia (e.g. fainting goats)?

>> No.10981807
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10981807

they were bread for this characteristic
also....

Fight or Flight or Freeze
playing dead is a valid way to both avoid being preyed upon and also useful for hunting

>> No.10981809

>>10981784
Genetic defect was bred into them for human amusement/consumption/etc.

>> No.10981872
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10981872

>>10981784
Do spam bots evolve?

>> No.10982504

>>10981807
Also not all individuals in a herd have this trait. One goat fainting and getting eaten allows the rest to get away hopefully

>> No.10982659

>>10981784
In nature the defected ones will be eaten by predators. So the defect will vanish.
But humans keep the defected ones and allow then to breed. So more defected ones are born.

>> No.10982684

>>10981784
not everything has evolutionary advantage

>> No.10982790

>>10982504
The idea is to make the predator think you're sick or infected. They'll shun sick prey to not get infected themselves.

>> No.10982886

>>10981784
Some predators only eat prey they kill.

>> No.10982909

>>10981784
>as a kid, decide to have a pet spider
>kill flies and give them to the spider
>spider refuses

>have a cat
>constantly hunting down and eating flies, wasps, butterflies, grasshoppers, etc.
>kill a bug and give it to the cat
>cat ignores existence of bug cadaver

>watch stray cats running after mice in the urban jungle
>think they are hunting for food
>as soon as a mouse drops dead, they vanish from cats radars unless they are large enough to carry around as a trophy

Lots of animals will be disinterested in prey they didn't kill because the prey may be sick. Necrophages will eat dead animals but predators prefer to kill them and eat them while they are fresh. Its the most hygienic form of sustenance for an animal that doesn't require human intervention. 'Playing dead' works against many predators.

>> No.10983059

>>10981784
The advantage is that humans breed them.

>> No.10983273

>>10982504
So if there are no individuals that faint and are eaten, predator would kill all herd of anger or what