• Keep in mind the y axis has been shortened, so slugs only took up ~7% of wheel usage

    I mean, that’s still 7% more than I expected lol

    • 8 days

      This is fraction of wheel turns per species.

      The fact that the slug, arguably one of the slowest species on the chart, got 7% is god damn impressive.

      It probably didn’t even realize it was on a wheel. It probably sensed the frog was there earlier and kept trying to run away.

      • I haven’t read the original paper, but the graph says “wheel running”, which I’d assume means ‘% time spent on wheel’

  • 8 days

    I should get a wheel for the chipmunks and squirrels in my yard.

    • The bird feeder that spins when a squirrel gets hold of it. Who’s to say holding on for dear life is exactly the kind of thrill seeking behavior squirrels craved?

      • 8 days

        I have a mirror in my garden, I don’t know why it was there when I bought the house, and the local squirrels are obsessed with it, they definitely know it’s a mirror and not another squirrel and they like to pose in front of it.

        Unfortunately it’s at the far end of a relatively long garden, and if I get close to it they run off, so I can’t really get a picture.

        • Unfortunately it’s at the far end of a relatively long garden, and if I get close to it they run off, so I can’t really get a picture.

          (Not my OC, just to be clear. Pretty sure I found it here and thought it was neat so I saved it)

          Also, you could set up a trail cam or a web cam or something

          • That squirrel is playing chicken with the cameraperson. They’re eating off a bird feeder - they’re gonna stay and take food until the very last second, then dash off.

            Though the point is fair otherwise. Some squirrels will let people get ridiculously close to them. Another option for OP is to just wait a small distance from the mirror, the same way people sometimes wait for animals to approach when birdwatching, fishing, or hunting. It could take time, but at least that time is spent enjoying the peace of nature.

  • It’s good that we’re giving animals hints about how to develop technology but you’d think we’d start by handing out matches or something 🤷‍♀️

      • 8 days

        I just looked it up and your average slug lives for about six years, so even at slug speed that’s quite a lot of damage that slug could do.

        • That is way longer than I expected a slug to live… I would have though less than month but I never claimed to be a slugologist

          • 8 days

            Most animals live longer than seems reasonable. There a spider that lives in the corner of my garden shed and it still there after five years.

            • Herring gulls in extreme cases can live into their 30s. There’s probably a haggard old gull somewhere which remembers the '90s.

      • 8 days

        I’d prefer a cytomantic slug, thank you very much. DOOMSLUG!!

    • Squirrels will eventually enslave snails for their own 0.01 Hz electrical grid.

      The wheel must turn

  • 8 days

    Well then. A big part of Science is replication. I gotta do it.

  • 8 days

    “Fraction of wheel turning per species”?

    This is a highly biased graph. Of course the mouse is gonna have more turning than the slug or the snail.

    The fuck kind of science is this?

  • 8 days

    This is so wholesome. I’m really happy for them and it makes me wonder if maybe we could make environmentally friendly hamster wheels outside for animals to use.

  • 8 days

    The slugs, frogs and snails are pretty much brainless, don’t count.