鈥淚n the High and Far-Off Times the Elephant, O Best Beloved, had no trunk. He
had only a blackish, bulgy nose, as big as a boot, that he could wriggle about
from side to side; but he couldn鈥檛 pick up things with it.鈥� So begins Rudyard
Kipling鈥檚 story 鈥淭he Elephant鈥檚 Child鈥�.
How the elephant got his trunk鈥攁s anyone with a love of alliteration
will remember鈥攊s a tale of 鈥榮atiable curiosity and a tussle with a
crocodile on the banks of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set
about with fever-trees. Kipling鈥檚 fable of the elephant鈥檚 child, like the other
Just So Stories, is pure fantasy, but our Tales from Evolution reveal that
reality can be just as strange.
Among the oddities, meet the queen fire ant who is assassinated by her own
courtiers for want of a green beard. Travel back in time to the creation
of the dolphin鈥檚 doppelg盲nger Then there are the birds that fall
over one another to be helpful. Their generosity, it turns out, is a way
of winning sexual favours.
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Kipling鈥檚 elephant child was treated to regular spankings, but references to
sex in real-life evolutionary tales are more overt. The female cichlid fish is
so picky about the colour of her mate that she has splintered the fish鈥檚 lineage
into hundreds of species. And if you want to know which animal has the
world鈥檚 most complicated genitals, or why male cockroaches have an organ that
resembles a Swiss army knife, read on.
Fictional crocodiles may like to dine on elephant鈥檚 nose, but some real
animals have even more bizarre tastes. Polar bears enjoy seal brains, and the
males will even eat their own cubs, but their favourite food is blubber.
Meanwhile, attine ants grow their own. They began farming fungi 50 million years
ago鈥攍ong before humans reaped their first harvest.
But evolution is not all about sex and food. Culture has shaped our own
destiny as strongly as our genes. If you鈥檙e not convinced, ask yourself
this question. Would the elephant have got his trunk if he had lived in a
society that believed crocodiles were to be avoided?
