Marlene Zuk: What we learn from insects' sex lives
マレーネ・ズク: 虫たちの倒錯したセックスライフから学べること
Marlene Zuk studies insect behavior -- and how humans use animal behavior to think about how we behave ourselves. Full bio
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than they are of dying.
死ぬよりも
"Book of Lists" survey
ー世界なんでもランキング』の1973年版は
worst, funniest lists that you see today.
ランキング本なんですが
高い所と大勢の人前での演説だけが
as sources of fear.
恐怖ランキングの上に来るそうです
spiders in there,
would have just topped the chart.
一気に1位になったでしょう
of the greatest minds in science,
E.O.ウィルソンまで
some of the smallest minds on Earth.
着想を得てきた人達がいます
惹きつけてやまないんでしょうか?
coming back to insects?
magnitude of almost everything about them.
昆虫の数が挙げられるでしょう
than any other kind of animal.
of insects there are,
are being discovered all the time.
maybe as many as 10 million.
あるいは1,000万種かもしれません
an insect-of-the-month calendar
for over 80,000 years.
8万年分ができるわけです
昆虫は欠くべからざる存在です
that 1 out of every 3 bites of food
手に入るのです
discoveries
あらゆる重要な発見—
of our nervous systems
遺伝子やDNAの働きまで
about our own behavior.
学ぶことができるからです
everything that people do.
they fight, they break up.
like love or animosity.
different than what drives our own,
ヒトの動機とは全く異なり
can be really illuminating.
of our most consuming interests -- sex.
セックスです
and I think I can defend,
論じていこうと思います
interesting than sex in people.
人間のより面白い」
some of our own assumptions
to have sex at all to reproduce.
全く必要ない昆虫は多くいます
of themselves without ever mating.
小さなクローンを作ることができます
interesting than human sperm.
than the male's own body.
use their sperm to compete.
なぜならオスは精子で競うからです
like the horns on these beetles.
オスの昆虫は武器で競いますが
after mating with their sperm.
that look kind of like Swiss Army knives
まるで十徳ナイフを全部広げたような
like scoops,
スコップのように使って
that the female has mated with.
前に交尾したオスの精子を取り除きます
of us imitating them
an example for us to follow.
ということではありません
is probably just as well.
is rampant among insects?
の話はしましたっけ?
that we humans have about the sex roles.
ことごとく破るんです
dictates kind of a 1950s sitcom version
自然界がそっくり表していると
supposed to be dominant and aggressive,
and grasshoppers.
about who they mate with,
sperm during mating,
something called a nuptial gift.
呼ばれるものも渡すからです
mating in these photos.
キリギリスが写っていますね
the male's the one on the right,
is the female's egg-laying organ.
メスの産卵管です
this from his own body
自分自身の身体から生産します
of his body mass.
体重の1/3になることもあります
and let you think about
every time they had sex,
that weighed 50, 60, 70 pounds.
生産しなきゃならないとしたら
to do that very often.
these nuptial gifts to.
during and after mating.
これを食べ続けます
the better off the male is,
オスに有利で
and fertilize her eggs.
are very passive about mating,
とても受け身だということを意味します
are extremely aggressive and competitive,
nutritious nuptial gifts as they can.
交尾に極めて積極的です
a stereotypical set of rules.
性別による役割分担ではありません
in the lives of a lot of insects.
実はオスは そこまで重要ではありません
the bees and wasps and ants --
社会的昆虫の中には
to your sugar bowl,
from flower to flower --
their head around that idea for millennia.
実に何千年もの月日がかかりました
a class of bees, the drones,
働きバチよりも大きな「ドローン」という
of the drones' laziness
納得いかなかったようです
the drones just hang around the hive
交尾の時期が来るまで
巣の周りをうろうろするだけで
in gathering nectar or pollen.
the drones' sex,
オスだと分からなかったのです
were aware of the stinging ability of bees
働きバチの刺す能力を知っていたため
携えているのがメスだなんて
could possibly be a female.
この議論に加担しようと試みました
individuals are going to be the males ..."
とした途端
because that would have meant
なぜならその考えで行くと
of the young in a colony,
子育てをしていた事になり
that would be completely impossible.
と考えたようでした
bees had the organs of both sexes
some animals do that,
これはありえるんです
did get it figured out.
真実を見出すことはなかった
my students, for instance,
例えば私の学生たちですら
including insects, a male.
昆虫も含めてオスと呼ぶんです
that the ferocious army-ant soldiers
コロニーを守る
used to defend the colony,
Antz, Bee Movie --
『ビー・ムービー』では大抵
in the social insects as being male.
オスとして描かれます
if they talk like Jerry Seinfeld?
何が悪いの?
根深い問題の一部であり
is part of a much deeper one
for medicine and health
私達の生活の側面に
use what we call model systems,
モデルシステムと呼ばれる手法により
white rats or fruit flies --
for all other animals, including people.
代役として実験に使います
that what's true for a person
ヒトに起こることは
発想です
that turns out to be the case.
of a model system too far.
度を越してしまうこともあります
科学者がやってきたことは
as though they are the model system.
モデルケースに使うことでした
after you get the basics down.
what was in front of them.
あるがままには見られないという事
stage was largely occupied by male players
オスで占められていて
minor, walk-on roles.
という思い込みがあるからです
on a lot of what nature is like.
自然のあり方の多くを見落とすことになります
natural, living things, including people,
自然や生物が持ち得る多様性の有様を
as models in a lot of medical research,
男性をモデルとして使ってきて
to both men and women.
I really love about insects
find unnerving about them.
the way we normally think of it.
認知能力はとても低いことです
but they lack complicated brains.
彼らに複雑な脳はありません
as though they're little people
小さな人間として考えてはいけない
the way that we do.
to anthropomorphize insects,
私が昆虫を好きな理由です
とらえようとしても
like they're little people
on their own terms,
受け入れる必要があります
what's normal and what's natural.
昆虫は問いかけてくれるからです
and talk about parallel universes.
パラレル・ワールドについて語ります
walking among us.
などと考えたりします
why they want to dabble in the paranormal.
と言われています
必要でしょうか?
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marlene Zuk - Evolutionary biologistMarlene Zuk studies insect behavior -- and how humans use animal behavior to think about how we behave ourselves.
Why you should listen
Marlene Zuk is a biologist and writer who researches animal behavior and evolution, mostly using insects as subjects. Zuk is interested in the ways that people use animal behavior to think about human behavior, and vice versa, as well as in the public's understanding of evolution. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota -- including a seminar called “What’s the Alternative to Alternative Medicine?”
In addition to publishing numerous scientific articles, Zuk has published four books for a general audience: Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can’t Learn About Sex from Animals; Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are; Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love and Language from the Insect World; and most recently, Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us About Sex, Diet and the Way We Live.
Marlene Zuk | Speaker | TED.com