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cover of episode Good Vibrations: How Fiddler Crabs Mate

Good Vibrations: How Fiddler Crabs Mate

2025/4/18
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Beth Wernber
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David Olson
M
Minghao Ni
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Beth Wernber: 我是牛津大学的生物学副教授，我们团队的研究发现，雄性欧洲招潮蟹的求偶舞蹈不仅仅是视觉上的表演，更重要的是通过爪子敲击沙地产生振动来吸引雌性。这种振动会随着求偶过程中的四个阶段而逐渐增强，从最初的挥舞爪子到最后在地下进行的敲击，振动强度不断增加。我们目前还不清楚雌性招潮蟹是如何感知和回应这些振动的，但这项研究让我们对招潮蟹的求偶行为有了更深入的了解，也为未来研究提供了新的方向。

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Male European fiddler crabs use a four-stage courtship dance involving seismic vibrations to attract females. The dance escalates in vibrational intensity, culminating in underground drumming. Researchers are still investigating how females respond to these vibrations.
  • Male fiddler crabs have one large claw used in a courtship dance.
  • The dance has four stages with increasing seismic vibrations.
  • Researchers used geophones to record the vibrations.
  • The role of seismic information in female attraction is still unknown.

Shownotes Transcript

The male European fiddler crab attracts his mate by performing a courtship dance. New research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology)* *says that dance isn't just notable for its visuals — it's notable for its vibrations, too.Researchers observed four different stages of the crab's courtship dance, each stage escalating the amount of seismic vibrational output. "It's 'come and find me in my underground house, ladies,'" says Beth Mortimer), a study author and biologist at the University of Oxford. *Interested in more seismic vibration communication? Send us an email at [email protected]).**Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave).*Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)