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"The treated larvae grew to become large headed and jawed ants resembling supersoldiers." If you gave a normal cat growth hormones, it might resemble a tiger.
by cvshepherd 15y ago
"The treated larvae grew to become large headed and jawed ants resembling supersoldiers."
If you gave a normal cat growth hormones, it might resemble a tiger. That doesn't mean it is one. That was the basis of my summary. I don't want to ridicule the research, and agree that this could have beneficial applications.
- ars 15y agoYou missed a section: '....normally develop into soldiers or workers depending on the levels of the "juvenile hormone": if levels are high the ants become soldiers, while if they are low they become the smaller worker ants. In the species that produce supersoldiers there is a second high threshold of the juvenile hormone, above which the larvae develop into the larger supersoldiers.' If you gave a normal cat unchecked growth hormones it would not resemble a tiger - it would die. Its body is not designed to be that large - look at case reports of humans with growth disorders, they have all sorts of very serious issues simply from being larger than designed.
- cvshepherd 15y agoI don't see what I've supposedly missed. And my remark about the cat was just an example of things not necessarily being what they look like.
- ars 15y agoWhat you missed is that this hormone does not just generate disorganized growth (i.e. things grow but not necessarily in a way that properly supports the larger size). Rather this hormone triggers a third type of development in this species, where the larger size of the animal is properly matched with a new type of behavior.