Fetch out the sequins: Spanish biologists working in western France have explained a curious characteristic of a bird called the marsh harrier: some males “dress” as females in their permanent plumage to win chicks and territory. The boffins, led by Audrey Sternalski of the Instituto de Investigacion en Recursos Cingeticos in …

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Thursday 10th November 2011 01:24 GMT Anonymous Coward

Optional

IT? Technology of any kind at all?

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1. Thursday 10th November 2011 09:28 GMT Thecowking
  
  Science.
  
  Not just technology. This is clearly science, biology probably, might be some sub-genre of the smellier sciences. (What do I know about squishy things? I'm a physicist.)
  
  So while this might be short on microprocessors and the like, it's still well within the remit of the site, even without Bootnotes.
  
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2. Thursday 10th November 2011 09:40 GMT gerryg
  
  It's a metaphor
  
  for software patents masquerading as real technology, behaviours as patent trolls
  
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3. Thursday 10th November 2011 13:14 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Clearly a social engineering situation.
  
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Thursday 10th November 2011 02:31 GMT Marvin the Martian

It's not that unusual in the animal kingdom; it's called the "sneaky f*cker" strategy.

For example in salmon, there can be a skinny un-masculine-looking male that will not be challenged to a fight: the local male thinks "that's another one in my harem! Hurrah!" and doesn't find out it's the one sneakily fertilizing his females...

Same with the side-blotched lizards with their famous rock-scissors-paper dynamics.

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