Ptera Hunter's Blog

Spring is here, and to celebrate the season of renewal, Benjamin Ross & Lane Publishers are thrilled to announce a special giveaway of The Wisdom of Loki! If you missed out on last year's giveaway, here's your golden opportunity to seize the moment!

The book delves into the intricate web of deceit within living systems, spanning from communal dynamics to the molecular realm. Exploring the nuanced motivations behind organisms misleading others, it sheds light on the evolutionary significance of deception and its role in amplifying the prospects of genetic inheritance.

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

I must acknowledge my animal behavior students, who consistently challenge me to delve deeper into the subject. Many of these poor souls enroll in it, expecting an easy class to complement their molecular biology or physiology classes, only to find that animal behavior encompasses physiology, endocrinology, evolutionary and developmental biology, and systematics.

One thing that astounds people is that so much of our communication evolved to confound others, leaving others to guess our true intent. Communication among organisms tends toward honesty when they share common goals. Once these goals diverge, the shared information becomes misleading as each tries to take advantage of the other.

And for those skeptics who doubt a dog's capacity for deception, it's likely they've never experienced the subtle art of canine cunning.

🚀 Dive into the wild world of deception with our latest giveaway, "The Wisdom of Loki: The Art of Lying in The Natural World"! 📚 From now until December 15, we're unleashing 100 free digital copies to unravel the secrets of nature's greatest tricksters.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

🌿 Targeted at enthusiasts curious about animal behavior but lacking a biology-heavy background, this book lifts the veil on the hidden world of deceit. Brace yourself, as it reveals a shocking truth: animals are not the sole perpetrators of dishonesty! Plants, fungi, and even molecules are all in on the game.

💡 Ever wondered how heroin fools our bodies into thinking it's a surplus of natural painkillers? Or how plants slyly manipulate wasps into pollinating them without bothering with the costly production of pollen? "The Wisdom of Loki" spills the beans on these mind-bending tales, revealing the cunning strategies of the natural world. You'll never trust a tulip again.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...

#The Wisdom of Loki

Play behavior has been observed in animals with big brains, like mammals, birds, and octopuses. A study from Queen Mary University found that bees, too, may enjoy play behavior.

In a standard conditioning experiment, a team headed by Professor Lars Chittka tried to teach bees to roll tiny balls to obtain a food reward. So far, it's pretty standard stuff.

Then, someone noticed that some of the bees rolled balls even when no food incentive was available. This triggered the standard response of scientists to something unexpected: Hmm. That's odd. I wonder if...

They decided to see if the bees were playing, doing an activity for the sheer joy of a behavior, not for the promise of a reward. They gave the bees a choice of two paths out of their hive. One led straight to food; the other had balls they could interact with.

The bees preferred the path that gave them access to the balls, and like us, younger bees spent more time playing than did the older ones. We see this same pattern in mammals, and play may serve the same function in both kinds of animals, honing life skills and physical fitness. Like us, bees engage in pattern recognition, directional navigation, and even a rudimentary form of "proto-counting."

Bees have thus become the first insect known to seek out objects to have fun. As with us, play is likely to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh4a1...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eUGj...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...

I'm on the cusp of completing the seemingly endless editing and updates for my upcoming book, and I'm gearing up to launch it into the world. As soon as I receive the green light from my publisher to release content, I'll start spreading the word. The excitement is palpable, and my shoulders feel the strain of ten months spent at the keyboard. It's been quite a journey, and I can't wait to share the final product with all of you.

Deception isn't solely a grand affair; it can unfold on a microscopic scale. Within our bodies, tiny predators lurk unseen. These parasites deploy a cunning arsenal of chemical weaponry. These insidious invaders unleash compounds that mimic our body's natural signals and hormones. Through this subterfuge, they hijack our internal communications to disrupt our regular processes and behaviors. The intricate balance of nature is replete with parasitic plants and animals that concoct deceptive potions, perfectly mirroring the growth hormones of their unwitting hosts. As the host diverts vital nutrients and resources to the imposters, their parasite thrives.

The horsehair worm, without ever breaching its host's brain, orchestrates a macabre ballet in the grasshopper. It compels the insect to leap to its death, seeking out water to leap to its own death, drowning itself in bodies of water. There, the work escapes from the insect's body and lays its eggs, ready to infect the next host in its life cycle.

Political science has explored how we bend reality to support our tribes. I ignored much of the problem but will cover some of these issues in my upcoming book. (Sorry, no hints yet, but it will be out in a few months!)

My last blog entry, Wolves in Sheep's Clothing, follows the trumpet fish's swimming habits that use the movements of innocuous species to sneak up on their prey.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-023-04...

As Ian Malcolm said in Jurrasic Park, nature finds a way. In this case, the predatory trumpetfish found a way to camouflage itself by shadowing other fish. Like the medieval bow hunters who would crouch behind their horses to hunt deer, these predators blend into their surroundings by swimming aside an innocuous species.


Several studies have demonstrated that species other than humans have used this shadowing technique. Other methods organisms use to decrease their apparency include mimicking the movement of surrounding plants (like the stick insect), and hiding behind objects. Shadowers must combine these techniques. An interesting addition I wish I had in time to include in my book, The Wisdom of Loki.

To see the study, go to:
Matchette, S. R. et al. (2023) Predatory trumpetfish conceal themselves from their prey by swimming alongside other fish. Current Biology, 33(15): PR801-R802, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.05....

If you entered the Giveaway, thank you, and congratulations to the winners. I hope you enjoy the book. The characters took on a life of their own, developing me more than I developed them.

The content includes adult themes that I could not avoid and still paint an image of the degradation of the system of enslavement suffered by the nameless. I published the book under my other pseudonym, Circa24, to avoid confusion with my more general consumption and non-fiction works I publish as Ptera Hunter.

I've been told that the most disturbing chapter is the one entitled "Zero." I considered cutting it, but it sets the stage for the horrors of the farms and for several other incidents deeper in the text. If you find yourself disgusted by the chapter, congratulations, you have a conscience.

Silent Consent explores a too possible future in which our oil reserves become depleted, environmental degradation has reduced the carrying capacity of our planet, and we have again become dependent on a draconian system of enslaved labor to power what remains of "civilization." using warped eugenic ideals, they justify their abuse as a means of reducing the proportion of antisocial genes.

The book focuses on a small group, the Dignity Squad, that investigates energy crimes and a group of "smutters," criminals who engage in violent, dehumanizing crimes against the "Nameless."

The book calls upon the history of enslavement from ancient Greece and Rome and serfs of the Middle Ages to the enslavement of African Americans and the Holocaust.

Sound interesting? Sound disturbing? Then the book may be for you.