Think of fireflies, and you might recall memories of summer where you looked at the flashing lights hovering over a field, or even ran through them, trying to cusp your hands around one of the insects to catch the glowing lights. Really, you were just stepping into a huge orgy. The New York Times talked with evolutionary ecologist Sara Lewis to find that the flashing lights in fireflies are mating calls. However, what Dr. Lewis found in her research is that they aren’t any old mating calls, and the conditions for firefly seduction are eerily similar to what (human) women go through when finding a guy: “The female fireflies turned out to be remarkably picky. In many cases, a male flash got no response at all. In some species, females preferred faster pulse rates. In others, the females preferred males that made long-lasting pulses.” Keep reading »
