How would Wurmple's split evolution work in real life?

[@eikonokyttaro2035]

I was thinking that it was more similar to temperature during egg incubating for crocs or other reptiles whos gender depends on the temperature. Maybe warmer Wurmples because blustery angry Beautiflies, while cooler Wurmples become chill and lax Dustoxs.

[@geekecology]

Temperature dependent evolution determination! That would be sweet!

[@KnufWons]

I was totally expecting a discussion of epigenetics! Based on the physical attributes of an organism’s environment (and more importantly its chemical balances), different genes will be turned on and off. Furthermore, the epigenome controls things like cell differentiation in embryonic development. I can totally see the pathway for evolution, but the driving force is a little more murky.

[@gerald2508]

Another great video as always. I initially believed that Beautifly's behaviour was an abstraction of the fact that butterflies will drink blood from puddles but upon looking further I found 'the harvester' _(Feniseca tarquiniu):_ a species of butterfly found in north-America that eats woolly aphids in its caterpillar stage. Cascoon will not move if attacked and remembers everyone that hurt it. Upon evolution it seeks 'payback', is there anything similar to this in real life? Dustox is attracted to light (cities), moves in large swarms, can strip the leaves from trees, and scatter highly-toxic scales wherever they go; what would be the ecological effects of this?

[@treybro11]

At this point, you’re the professor in my canon of Pokémon 😂

[@peteele4030]

Really interesting comparisons in this video. Ironically I always associated Dustox as the more "aggressive" Pokemon most likely due to Cascoon's appearance giving off that impression more than its counterpart (imo).

[@Taqterra]

Good video, i was telling my friends about intraspecific niche partitioning being more fully actualized in the pokemon world as evolutionary stages can vary wildly

[@Taqterra]

*a realization i had from one of your previous video, surely*

[@tristoner9117]

The best reason I’ve heard is that the two wurmples are two different species and that one imitates the other because of the toxins present in the dustox line

[@geekecology]

That's actually a pretty nice possibility. Didn't consider that level of mimicry! Not too far off viceroy butterflies imitating monarchs I suppose

[@vlad_ap5313]

Longer deep dives seem perfect to me uwu

[@chibimango5028]

I think i remember that locusts have wildly different behavior and appearance in adulthood based on the environment they spent their time in as nymphs. Dont they grow into the stereotypical aggressively swarming adults who ravage plants ONLY if they perceive population concentration as high enough for a swarm when they're growing? This video reminded me of that, maybe Wurmple's evolution is based on some factor of its upbringing sort of 'flipping a switch' in a similar manner.

[@ShadeGrey]

Deep dive away man, I love listening to the explanations.

[@Pollyannawog]

My thoughts here was that perhaps it’s something like what’s seen with some species where reproductive success is tied to different color variations based on “personality” rather than sex. I can’t for the life of me remember the species name, but I remember hearing about a bird that had two color morphs, typically associated with either a more aggressive, dominant personality or submissive, nurturing one, where they found the greatest success happened when a “dominant” female paired with a “submissive” male, and vice versa. Maybe in the wurmple line’s case, having a mixture of beautifly and dustox in the population increases reproductive success enough to have driven the evolution (lol) of two distinct forms within the same species. Another possibility I found while trying to find the previously mentioned example (seriously, if anyone knows which bird it is please let me know) I learned that some species, like the black sparrowhawk, likely have different color morphs that give them an advantage while hunting either at day or at night. Perhaps having two variations helps the wurmple line diversify their food intake, meaning that there’s less intraspecific competition for food and resources in populations with a balance between dustox and beautifly, as they have different dietary needs and presumably do most of their hunting/foraging at different times of day. All in all, a very interesting Pokemon to ponder through the lens of ecology! I just stumbled across your channel tonight and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorites. Keep up the good work!

[@moth_farmer]

Yet one question remains unclear. Is Wurmple a butterfly or moth?

[@geekecology]

Yes

[@honeyham6788]

is there an evolutionary reason why shy and inactive wurmples would skip the proboscus when metamorphosizing? Are there examples of animals personality traits affecting physical features?

[@gerald2508]

I think the proboscis is a quicker method of feeding which would be useful for a predator and a nectar-feeder. Dustox does not need to feed quickly as it repels all attackers and most competitors by poison dusting the entire area.

[@honeyham6788]

@@gerald2508 yes but these are not two different species, these are two forms of 1 species

[@gerald2508]

@@honeyham6788 It is an answer to your first question, I cannot answer the second.

[@ArtisticChimera]

Just found this channel today after watching the beedrill episode of Pokémon geographic, and I was wondering if you'd be able to figure out how Luxury can have x-ray vision since it's mentioned in both Pokédex entries and shown in the anime (also Luxury is my favourite Pokémon it's just a big electric kitty)

[@geekecology]

Welcome! I've done a couple shorts on this before, but not sure if they made it to KZbin 😅 I view it's x-ray as essentially electroreception like what is found in sharks and rays. This would allow them to find prey in complex environments, like the grasslands they inhabit!

[@SweetTaleTeller]

I love Wurmple