Re: Locusts
One of the more interesting things I've read about biology is how locusts evolved to get into a 17 year cycle.
The theory is that locusts had a specialized predator that preyed upon them. There are a lot of ways to defend yourself from predators but the locusts evolved to not come out every year in order to try to starve out their predator in the in between years. Initially they probably just skipped one year and were on a 2 year cycle. So the predator went to a 2 year cycle, and it became an arms race, with the length of the cycles increasing.
If the locusts went to say a 6 year cycle and the predators were on a 3 year cycle then there would be an overlap every 2 times for the predator where they would be out at the same time. So if the predators could make it through one year without locusts then they could hibernate for another 3 years and that time around food would be plentiful for them because the locusts would be around too. So just going to a longer cycle wouldn't necessarily defend the locusts because the predators could be on a shorter cycle but still always be around when the locusts were around.
So the amazing part is that 17 years is a prime number and avoids this problem.
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11-17-2004, 10:46 PM
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