WEBVTT - Boxer Crabs Use Anemones as Weapons

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works, Hey, brain stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogel bomb here textured like scrumptious tempora and a

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<v Speaker 1>little over half an inch wide, that's about two centimeters.

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<v Speaker 1>The Libya boxer crab would seem rather ill suited for survival,

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<v Speaker 1>and that's why they wheeled a pair of sea anonomy cudgels.

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<v Speaker 1>But where do they snag these fancy bio weapons? A

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<v Speaker 1>bar Alon University graduate students Israel Schneitzer, Yaniv Gamon and

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<v Speaker 1>two other colleagues had the same question and investigated the

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<v Speaker 1>matter for a study published in the journal Pierre j.

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<v Speaker 1>The researchers collected boxer crabs from the south shore of

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<v Speaker 1>the Red Sea in Elot, Israel, and identified the weaponized

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<v Speaker 1>an enemies as belonging to the genus Alicia, likely a

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<v Speaker 1>newly recorded species. But when they looked around for wild

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<v Speaker 1>examples of the Alicia sea an enemy, nothing turned up.

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<v Speaker 1>If unclaimed weapons are scarce, then how's a boxer crab

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<v Speaker 1>supposed to arm up? Theft? Of course, just as an

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<v Speaker 1>unarmed Bruce Lee might swipe a pair of nun chucks

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<v Speaker 1>from an adversary, so two does an unarmed boxer crab

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<v Speaker 1>wrestle an antemy away from one of its fellow tool users, and,

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<v Speaker 1>as one of my house to Fork's colleagues would say,

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<v Speaker 1>here's where it gets crazy. As the researchers discovered in

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<v Speaker 1>a pair of experiments, a one weaponed boxer crab will

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<v Speaker 1>split its remaining an enemy into two fragments. The resulting

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<v Speaker 1>fragments then regenerate over the course of several days into

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<v Speaker 1>two distinct antemy clones. Let's see, Bruce Lee do that.

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<v Speaker 1>Schneitzer in Gamen are no strangers to the mystery of

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<v Speaker 1>crab boxing. They previously worked on a study published in

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<v Speaker 1>the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, which revealed

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<v Speaker 1>the boxer crabs bonsai like treatment of their claw clutched bioweapons.

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<v Speaker 1>They use them to catch food and defend themselves, but

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<v Speaker 1>they also starve the an enemies enough to regulate their size.

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<v Speaker 1>The researcher's current study reveals that the crabs manipulation goes

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<v Speaker 1>beyond symbiote tool use. Molecular finger printing of the anenomy

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<v Speaker 1>pairs taken from wild crabs revealed more identical clone weapons,

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<v Speaker 1>suggesting that the practice is widespread. Given the apparent absence

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<v Speaker 1>of wild Alicia an enemies and the boxer crabs talent

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<v Speaker 1>for inducing clonal reproduction were left with a tantalizing question.

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<v Speaker 1>Are there any free living Alicia left or does the

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<v Speaker 1>species continue as a purely cultivated weapons species. The situation

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<v Speaker 1>would not be unlike the domesticated fungi of leaf cutter ants.

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<v Speaker 1>Schneitzer said that the cultivation explanation is possible. The Alicia

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<v Speaker 1>se an enemy could now be extinct in the wild

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<v Speaker 1>or might live elsewhere a remote species brought into the

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<v Speaker 1>a lot area by a founding father crab, Schneitzer said

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<v Speaker 1>via email. Bottom line, my guess is they exist, but

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<v Speaker 1>are probably very rare. Regardless, the researchers findings provide us

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<v Speaker 1>with a seemingly unique example of one animal inducing the

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<v Speaker 1>asexual reproduction of another and for tool use. Humans may

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<v Speaker 1>claim the honors to bioweapons premise you for the moment,

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<v Speaker 1>but the boxer crabs are ready to claim the prize

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<v Speaker 1>should we wipe ourselves out with a mishandled plague virus

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<v Speaker 1>or two. Today's episode was written by Robert Lamb and

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this and lots

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<v Speaker 1>of other completely unique topics, visit our home planet, how

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<v Speaker 1>stuff works dot com