Hi these two poems have been inspired by David Attenborough's 'Life series' a truly amazing set of DVD's There are five specialist titles in the series
Life of Plants
Life in the Undergrowth
Life in Cold Blood
Life of Birds
Life of the Mammals
These two poems are about flowers and insects. Which complement each other nicely. It is normal to stress how nature is essentially about competing species fighting for scarce resources. However plants and insects cooperate with each other in a way that is beneficial to both. One doesn't have to be a creationist or particularly religious to admire the ingenuity in which both insects and plants cooperate with each other. How does a particular orchid know for example how to disguise it's flowers as a female wasp so that it will attract male wasps. Truly amazing and without 'Uncle David' this amazing fact about nature would be hidden from us. So a truly amazing series and if you haven't seen it then I would urge you to get hold of it. Start with life on earth the best introduction to evolution there is even if the photography is a bit dated.
Flowers
Your blooms are such a
sight,
Giving us all great
delight.
But all that, you have
planned,
To get insects, on you to
land.
The little bug might
think,
They have had a nice free
drink.
But for you, it’s also
great,
Now you have a chance to
mate.
And here is the one on insects generally speaking we avoid insects and indeed David Attenborough shows some pretty gruesome ones including a giant millipede which preys on bats. However without them the soil would not be aereated and of course the flowers would not be pollinated.
Insects
Nasty
horrible little things,
That
quite often stings.
But
if you did not toil,
The
earth would have no soil.
The
flowers would not grow,
They
would not put on a show.
On
you so much depends,
To help nature meet it’s ends.
I thought it was generally accepted in the scientific community that it is birds that are evolutionarily descended from dinosaurs. At least that is what the OU teaches...
ReplyDeleteWell I didn't say they were evolutionarily descended from dinosaurs just that they were closely related. Apologies if I am wrong I don't think I need to alter the poem as it only states that they were there when dinosaurs were present and outlived them.
ReplyDeleteThis website seems to think that Dinosaurs Birds and reptiles are closely related
ReplyDeletehttps://reptiland.com/how-birds-and-reptiles-are-related/
It was more the comment that "what happened to the dinosaurs is an interesting scientific problem and as yet there is still no answer". There is an answer - they evolved into birds! But no need to change the poem.
ReplyDeleteSomething must have caused their extinction as I understand it is either a series of bombardments by meteors or volcanic activity. it's not immediately obvious how a tyrannosaurus rex or any other big dinosaurs became small birds. Hope you enjoy the other poems anyway and wait till I starting waxing lyrical about Bessel Functions :)
ReplyDeleteThe point is that dinosaurs didn't all become extinct - some (possible smaller and feathered) dinosaurs evolved into birds. Look forward to the Bessel functions - George Gamow had a nice set of physics related songs in the Mr. Tomkins books, so there's a good precedent!
ReplyDelete