Off The Tiger Trail

Photo Feature

Love Sees No Size
Vishwanath Birje, Love sees no size. Extreme sexual dimorphism is a common occurrence in spider species. Here the small male crab spider Thomisus sp., is dwarfed by his snow-white female mate. The most widely acknowledged hypothesis for why the female is larger is based on fecundity, namely that larger females are favoured by natural selection as they can produce more eggs and healthier offspring. As males don’t lay eggs, their large size would have no advantage. Another is the gravity hypothesis, which suggests that smaller sizes benefit males to travel with ease and seek more mates.  Location: Nagla Block, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Maharashtra

off the tiger trail