Marlene Zuk: What we learn from insects’ kinky sex lives

Translator: Sune Vilsted Østergaard Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

So, people are more afraid of insects than they are of dying.

Så, mennesker er mere bange for insekter end de er for at dø.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

At least, according to a 1973 "Book of Lists" survey

I hvert fald i følge en 1973 "Book of Lists" undersøgelse,

which preceded all those online best, worst, funniest lists that you see today.

der gik forud for alle de bedste, værste, sjoveste lister man ser i dag.

Only heights and public speaking

Kun højder og offentlige taler

exceeded the six-legged as sources of fear.

overgik de seksbenede, som kilder til frygt

And I suspect if you had put spiders in there,

Og jeg tror, at hvis man havde taget edderkopper med

the combinations of insects and spiders would have just topped the chart.

ville kombinationen af insekter og edderkopper toppet skalaen.

Now, I am not one of those people.

Jeg er ikke en af de personer.

I really love insects.

Jeg elsker virkelig insekter.

I think they're interesting and beautiful,

Jeg synes, at de er interessante og smukke

and sometimes even cute.

og nogle gange endda nuttede.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And I'm not alone.

Og jeg er ikke den eneste.

For centuries, some of the greatest minds in science,

For århundreder har nogen af de største genier indenfor videnskab

from Charles Darwin to E.O. Wilson,

fra Charles Darwin til E.O. Wilson,

have drawn inspiration from studying some of the smallest minds on Earth.

draget inspiration fra at studere nogle af de mindste sjæle på jorden.

Well, why is that?

Hvorfor det?

What is that keeps us coming back to insects?

Hvad er det der får os til, at vende tilbage til insekter?

Some of it, of course, is just the sheer magnitude of almost everything about them.

En del af det er selvfølgelig hele omfanget af næsten alt omkring dem.

They're more numerous than any other kind of animal.

De er mere mangfoldige end noget andet slags dyr.

We don't even know how many species of insects there are,

Vi ved ikke engang, hvor mange insektarter der er,

because new ones are being discovered all the time.

fordi der bliver opdaget nye hele tiden.

There are at least a million, maybe as many as 10 million.

Der er mindst en million, måske så mange som 10 millioner.

This means that you could have an insect-of-the-month calendar

Det betyder at man kunne have en kalender med et insekt hver måned

and not have to reuse a species for over 80,000 years.

og alligevel ikke genbruge en art før om 80.000 år.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Take that, pandas and kittens!

Tag den, pandaer og killinger!

(Laughter)

(Latter)

More seriously, insects are essential.

Mere alvorligt, insekter er nødvendige.

We need them.

Vi har brug for dem.

It's been estimated that 1 out of every 3 bites of food

Det er blevet anslået, at 1 ud af hver 3 bid føde

is made possible by a pollinator.

er gjort muligt af en bestøver.

Scientist use insects to make fundamental discoveries

Forskere bruger insekter til, at lave fundamentale opdagelser

about everything from the structure of our nervous systems

omkring alt fra strukturen af vores nervesystem

to how our genes and DNA work.

til hvordan gener og DNA fungerer.

But what I love most about insects

Men hvad jeg elsker mest om insekter

is what they can tell us about our own behavior.

er hvad de kan fortælle os om vores egen opførelse.

Insects seem like they do everything that people do.

Insekter ser ud til, at de gør alting mennesker gør.

They meet, they mate, they fight, they break up.

De møder, de parrer, de slås, de slår op.

And they do so with what looks like love or animosity.

Og de gør det med, hvad der ligner kærlighed eller fjendtlighed.

But what drives their behaviors is really different than what drives our own,

Men hvad der driver deres adfærd er meget anderledes fra hvad der driver vores egen,

and that difference can be really illuminating.

og den forskel kan være meget oplysende.

There's nowhere where that's more true

Der er ingen steder, det er mere sandt

than when it comes to one of our most consuming interests -- sex.

end når det kommer til en af vores mest indtagende interesser -- sex.

Now, I will maintain. and I think I can defend,

Jeg vil fastholde, og jeg mener, at jeg kan forsvare,

what may seem like a surprising statement.

hvad der måske kan virke som en overraskende udmelding.

I think sex in insects is more interesting than sex in people.

Jeg mener, at sex hos insekter er mere interessant end sex hos mennesker.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And the wild variety that we see

Og den vilde varietet, vi ser,

makes us challenge some of our own assumptions

får os til, at udfordre nogle af vores egne antagelser

about what it means to be male and female.

omkring hvad det vil sige, at være mand og kvinde.

Of course, to start with,

Selvfølgelig, til at starte med,

a lot of insects don't need to have sex at all to reproduce.

behøver mange insekter ikke, at have sex for at reproducere.

Female aphids can make little, tiny clones of themselves without ever mating.

Hunkønsbladlus kan lave små, bitte kloner af sig selv uden parring.

Virgin birth, right there.

Det er jomfrufødsel.

On your rose bushes.

På dine rosenbuske.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

When they do have sex,

Når de har sex,

even their sperm is more interesting than human sperm.

er selv deres sæd er mere interessant end menneskesæd.

There are some kinds of fruit flies

Der findes nogle slags frugtfluer,

whose sperm is longer than the male's own body.

hvis sæd er længere end hannens egen krop.

And that's important because the males use their sperm to compete.

Og det er vigtigt fordi hannerne bruger deres sæd til at konkurrere.

Now, male insects do compete with weapons, like the horns on these beetles.

Hankønsinsekter konkurrerer med våben, som hornene på de her biller.

But they also compete after mating with their sperm.

Men de konkurrerer også med sæd efter parring.

Dragonflies and damselflies have penises that look kind of like Swiss Army knives

Guldsmede og vandnymfer har penisser, der lidt ligner schweizerknive.

with all of the attachments pulled out.

med alt tilbehøret foldet ud.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

They use these formidable devices like scoops,

De anvender de her formidable anordninger som skeer

to remove the sperm from previous males that the female has mated with.

til at fjerne sæd fra tidligere hanner, som hunnen har parret med.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

So, what can we learn from this?

Så hvad kan vi lære af det?

(Laughter)

(Latter)

All right, it is not a lesson in the sense of us imitating them

Okay, det er ikke en lektion i den forstand, at vi skal efterligne dem

or of them setting an example for us to follow.

eller at de sætter et eksempel for os at følge.

Which, given this, is probably just as well.

Hvilket, givet det her, er formentligt ligeså godt.

And also, did I mention sexual cannibalism is rampant among insects?

Fik jeg også nævnt, at seksuel kannibalisme er udbredt blandt insekter?

So, no, that's not the point.

Så, nej, det er ikke pointen.

But what I think insects do,

Men hvad jeg tror, at insekter gør,

is break a lot of the rules that we humans have about the sex roles.

er at bryde en masse regler, som vi mennesker har omkring sexroller.

So, people have this idea that nature dictates kind of a 1950s sitcom version

Så, mennesker har den her idé, at naturen dikterer som en 1950 sitcom,

of what males and females are like.

hvordan hanner og hunner er.

So that males are always supposed to be dominant and aggressive,

Så hanner altid skal være dominante og aggressive,

and females are passive and coy.

og hunner er passive og sky.

But that's just not the case.

Men det er bare ikke tilfældet.

So for example, take katydids,

Lad os tage løvgræshopper for et eksempel,

which are relatives of crickets and grasshoppers.

som er slægtninge til fårekyllinger og græshopper.

The males are very picky about who they mate with,

Hannerne er meget kræsne omkring hvem de parrer med,

because they not only transfer sperm during mating,

fordi der overfører ikke kun sæd under parring,

they also give the female something called a nuptial gift.

de giver også hunnen noget der kaldes en bryllupsgave.

You can see two katydids mating in these photos.

Man kan se to løvgræshopper, der parrer i disse fotos.

In both panels, the male's the one on the right,

I begge paneler, er hannen den til højre,

and that sword-like appendage is the female's egg-laying organ.

og det sværdlignende vedhæng er hunnens æglæggende organ.

The white blob is the sperm,

Den hvide klat er sæden,

the green blob is the nuptial gift,

den grønne klat er bryllupsgaven,

and the male manufactures this from his own body

og hannen producerer det fra hans egen krop

and it's extremely costly to produce.

og det er ekstremt dyrt at producere.

It can weigh up to a third of his body mass.

Det kan veje op til en tredjedel af hans kropsmasse.

I will now pause for a moment and let you think about

Jeg vil nu pause for et øjeblik og lade jer tænke over,

what it would be like if human men, every time they had sex,

hvordan det ville være for mænd, hvis de hver gang de havde sex,

had to produce something that weighed 50, 60, 70 pounds.

skulle producere noget, der vejede 23, 27, 32 kilogram.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Okay, they would not be able to do that very often.

Okay, de ville ikke være i stand til, at gøre det særligt ofte.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And indeed, neither can the katydids.

Og det kan løvgræshopperne heller ikke.

And so what that means

Og det betyder så,

is the katydid males are very choosy

at hannerne hos løvgræshopper er meget kræsne

about who they offer these nuptial gifts to.

omkring hvem de tilbyder de her bryllupsgaver til.

Now, the gift is very nutritious,

Gaven er meget næringsrig

and the female eats it during and after mating.

og hunnen spiser det under og efter parring.

So, the bigger it is, the better off the male is,

Så jo større den her, desto bedre for hannen

because that means more time for his sperm

fordi det betyder mere tid for hans sæd

to drain into her body and fertilize her eggs.

til at trænge ind i hendes krop og befrugte æggene.

But it also means that the males are very passive about mating,

Men det betyder også, at hannerne er meget passive med parring,

whereas the females are extremely aggressive and competitive,

hvorimod hunnerne er meget aggressive og konkurrencepræget

in an attempt to get as many of these nutritious nuptial gifts as they can.

i et forsøg på, at få så mange bryllupsgaver som de kan.

So, it's not exactly a stereotypical set of rules.

Så det er ikke ligefrem et stereotypt regelsæt.

Even more generally though,

Endnu mere generelt,

males are actually not all that important in the lives of a lot of insects.

er hanner faktisk ikke så vigtige i livet hos mange insekter.

In the social insects -- the bees and wasps and ants --

Hos de sociale insekter -- bier og hvepse og myrer --

the individuals that you see every day --

individerne man ser hver dag --

the ants going back and forth to your sugar bowl,

myrerne der går frem og tilbage fra din sukkerskål,

the honey bees that are flitting from flower to flower --

honningbierne der flagrer fra blomst til blomst --

all of those are always female.

de er allesammen hunner.

People have had a hard time getting their head around that idea for millennia.

Folk har haft svært ved, at forstå den idé for årtusinder.

The ancient Greeks knew that there was a class of bees, the drones,

De gamle grækere vidste, at der var en klasse af bier, dronerne,

that are larger than the workers,

som er større end arbejderne,

although they disapproved of the drones' laziness

selvom de misbilligede dronernes dovenskab

because they could see that the drones just hang around the hive

fordi de kunne se, at dronerne bare hængte ud omkring bikuben

until the mating flight --

indtil parringsflyvningen --

they're the males.

de er hannerne.

They hang around until the mating flight,

De bliver hængende indtil parringsflyningen,

but they don't participate in gathering nectar or pollen.

men deltager ikke i indsamlingen af nektar eller pollen.

The Greeks couldn't figure out the drones' sex,

Grækerne kunne ikke finde ud af dronernes køn,

and part of the confusion was that they were aware of the stinging ability of bees

og en del af forvirringen var, at de var klar over biers evne til at stikke.

but they found it difficult to believe

men de havde svært ved, at tro på,

that any animals that bore such a weapon could possibly be a female.

at et dyr der bar på sådan et våben, på nogen måde kunne være en hun.

Aristotle tried to get involved as well.

Aristoteles prøvede også på, at blive involveret.

He suggested, "OK, if the stinging individuals are going to be the males ..."

Han foreslog, "Okay, hvis de stikkende individer skal være hanner ..."

Then he got confused, because that would have meant

Så blev han forvirret fordi det ville have betydet,

the males were also taking care of the young in a colony,

at hanner også tog vare på de yngste i en koloni

and he seemed to think that would be completely impossible.

og han mente åbenbart, at det ville være komplet umuligt.

He then concluded that maybe bees had the organs of both sexes

Han konkluderede, at måske havde bier organer fra begge køn

in the same individual,

i det samme individ,

which is not that far-fetched, some animals do that,

hvilket ikke er så langt ude, nogen dyr gør det,

but he never really did get it figured out.

men han fandt aldrig rigtigt ud af det.

And you know, even today, my students, for instance,

Og selv i dag, for eksempel mine elever

call every animal they see, including insects, a male.

kalder alle dyr de ser, inkluderende insekter, for en han

And when I tell them that the ferocious army-ant soldiers

Og når jeg fortæller dem, at de voldsomme hær-myre soldater

with their giant jaws, used to defend the colony,

med deres kæmpe kæmper plejede, at forsvare kolonien,

are all always female,

er alle hunner,

they seem to not quite believe me.

troede de ikke rigtigt på mig.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And certainly all of the movies -- Antz, Bee Movie --

Og i hvert fald alle filmene -- Antz, Bee Movie --

portray the main character in the social insects as being male.

udstiller hovedkarakteren hos de sociale insekter som at være han.

Well, what difference does this make?

Hvad forskel gør det?

These are movies. They're fiction.

Det er film. Det er fiktion.

They have talking animals in them.

De har talende dyr i dem.

What difference does it make if they talk like Jerry Seinfeld?

Hvad forskel gør det, hvis de taler som Jerry Seinfeld?

I think it does matter,

Jeg mener, at det betyder noget,

and it's a problem that actually is part of a much deeper one

og at det er en del af et meget dybereliggende problem

that has implications for medicine and health

som har konsekvenser for medicin og helbred.

and a lot of other aspects of our lives.

og mange andre aspekter af vores liv.

You all know that scientists use what we call model systems,

I ved alle sammen, at forskere bruger, hvad vi kalder modelsystemer,

which are creatures -- white rats or fruit flies --

som er væsener -- hvide rotter eller frugtfluer --

that are kind of stand-ins for all other animals, including people.

der er en slags stand-in for alle andre dyr også mennesker.

And the idea is that what's true for a person

Og idéen om, hvad der er sandt for et menneske

will also be true for the white rat.

vil også være sandt for den hvide rotte.

And by and large, that turns out to be the case.

Og i store træk viser det sig, at være tilfældet.

But you can take the idea of a model system too far.

Men du kan tage idéen om et modelsystem for langt.

And what I think we've done,

Og hvad jeg tror, at vi har gjort,

is use males, in any species, as though they are the model system.

er at bruge hanner, i enhver art, som at de er modelsystemet.

The norm.

Normen.

The way things are supposed to be.

Den måde som det er meningen at, tingene skal være på.

And females as a kind of variant --

Og hunner som en slags variant --

something special that you only study after you get the basics down.

noget specielt som man kun studerer efter man kan det basale.

And so, back to the insects.

Og dermed tilbage til insekterne.

I think what that means

Jeg tror, at det betyder

is that people just couldn't see what was in front of them.

folk bare ikke kunne se, hvad der var lige foran dem.

Because they assumed that the world's stage was largely occupied by male players

Fordi de antog, at verdensscenen stort set var besat af mandlige spillere

and females would only have minor, walk-on roles.

og kvinder kun ville have mindre statistroller.

But when we do that, we really miss out on a lot of what nature is like.

Men når vi gør det, går vi virkelig glip af en masse om hvordan naturen er.

And we can also miss out on the way natural, living things, including people,

Og vi kan også gå glip af den måde naturlige, levende ting, også mennesker,

can vary.

kan variere.

And I think that's why we've used males as models in a lot of medical research,

Og jeg tror, at det er derfor vi har brugt hanner som model for medicinsk forskning,

something that we know now to be a problem

noget som vi nu ved er et problem,

if we want the results to apply to both men and women.

hvis vi ønsker at resultaterne skal gælde for både mænd og kvinder.

Well, the last thing I really love about insects

Den sidste ting, som jeg virkelig elsker om insekter

is something that a lot of people find unnerving about them.

er noget som mange mennesker finder foruroligende omkring dem.

They have little, tiny brains

De har lille, små hjerner.

with very little cognitive ability, the way we normally think of it.

med meget lille kognitiv evne, måden vi normalt tænker på det.

They have complicated behavior, but they lack complicated brains.

De har kompliceret adfærd, men de mangler komplicerede hjerner.

And so, we can't just think of them as though they're little people

Derfor kan vi ikke bare tænke på dem som små mennesker.

because they don't do things the way that we do.

fordi de gør ikke ting, på samme måde vi gør.

I really love that it's difficult to anthropomorphize insects,

Jeg elsker virkelig, at det er svært, at menneskeliggøre insekter,

to look at them and just think of them like they're little people

at se på dem og bare tænke på dem, som om at de er små mennesker

in exoskeletons, with six legs.

i exoskeletter med seks ben.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Instead, you really have to accept them on their own terms,

I stedet bliver man nødt til, at acceptere dem på deres egen vilkår,

because insects make us question what's normal and what's natural.

fordi insekter får os til, at spørge hvad der er normalt og hvad der er naturligt.

Now, you know, people write fiction and talk about parallel universes.

Folk skriver fiktion og snakker om parallelle universer.

They speculate about the supernatural,

De spekulerer over det overnaturlige

maybe the spirits of the departed walking among us.

måske de døde ånder der færdes blandt os.

The allure of another world

Tiltrækningen af en anden verden

is something that people say is part of why they want to dabble in the paranormal.

er noget folk siger er en del af, hvorfor de vil lege med det okkulte.

But as far as I'm concerned,

Men så vidt jeg er bekymret,

who needs to be able to see dead people,

hvem har brug for, at kunne se døde mennesker,

when you can see live insects?

når du kan se levende insekter?

Thank you.

Tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)