Cecil Adams celebrates spring!

Spring is busy springing around us! Cecil gets into the mating habits of the caterpillar and just wha [The Straight Dope] Cecil Adams celebrates spring! By [The Straight Dope]( • Issue #12 • [View online]( Spring is busy springing around us! Cecil gets into the mating habits of the caterpillar and just what the birds and the bees are up to as well, while SDStaff Doug explains how we get butterflies. Threadspotting The best of the Straight Dope Message Board  March 13, 2020: [You need to scout before you Scout](. Straight Dope Classic: December 15, 2000 [Illustration by Slug Signorino]( Illustration by Slug Signorino [How do caterpillars have sex?]( Dear Cecil: Hey Cecil, I have a question that I’ve been bouncing around for the past few days. How do caterpillars have sex? — Axionsj, via AOL Cecil replies:  To cope with the rapid advance of human knowledge, we’ve been staffing up here at the Straight Dope, and one of the people I’ve been talking to is a fellow named George Angehr. George is an ornithologist with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, which is all well and good, but I wanted to find out if he really had what it takes for membership on the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board. So I asked him to review the above question and got this response: I think this question is worthy of Cecil as it: (1) comes from a questioner who is obviously dumber than a box of rocks, thus offering ample opportunities for ridicule; (2) features a question so incredibly ignorant that the Teeming Millions will instantly feel smug, thinking they know what the answer is; and (3) allows Cecil to puncture their bubble and explicate learnedly about such fascinating topics as paedomorphosis, neoteny, the repulsive axolotl, and why humans are like baby chimpanzees. George, I thought, you’ve got the job. [Click here to keep reading](. Straight Dope Staff Report: Sept. 16, 2008 [How exactly does a caterpillar morph into a butterfly?]( Dear Straight Dope:  There’s a question that’s been plaguing me for some time. So, we’ve all known the stages of metamorphosis for butterflies and moths since we were children, but I can’t seem to find a decent description as to exactly how the caterpillar in its chrysalis stage morphs into a butterfly or moth. All I find is vague phrasings such as “hormonal changes” and “magical happenings”. Simply asked, how exactly does a caterpillar, in the chrysalis stage of metamorphosis, morph its physical structure into that of a butterfly or moth? —  Mark Anderson SDStaff Doug replies:  The transformation that results in a butterfly — or fly, or beetle, or wasp, or any other insect that undergoes complete metamorphosis, from larva to pupa to adult — is one of the most remarkable stunts pulled in the animal kingdom. Saying it involves “magical happenings” isn’t so far off: it’s an astounding trick, even when you know how it’s done. And, as with most magic tricks, the secret behind it involves some specialized apparatus — a gimmick that’s hidden away from the audience, up the proverbial sleeve.  [Click here to keep reading](. Straight Dope Classic: March 26, 1993 [What’s the origin of the phrase, “the birds and the bees?”]( Dear Cecil: I recently celebrated my thirtieth birthday, and am in the initial stages of what I hope will be a serious and long lasting relationship. My dilemma is this: I’ve never been told the story of “the birds and the bees.” I’ve travelled around the world and am not an inexperienced person, but this missing piece of information may be the reason I haven’t, up till now, been truly successful in love. Please give me the straight dope on the origin of the phrase “the birds and the bees” and the details of the act(s) as it (or they) relate to man. — M. Harris, Washington, D.C. Cecil replies: Don’t feel bad. Nobody explained it to me, either, and I must say I made quite an impression that first night with the honey and feathers. But now I’m hip. The significance of the birds and bees isn’t what they do, it’s simply that they do it, “it,” naturally, being a tussle in the tumbleweeds, or wherever it is that the lower orders engage in sex. As such it’s the perfect euphemism for a culture so prudish that even publishers of girlie magazines used to airbrush out the pubic hair. [Click here to keep reading](. Did you enjoy this issue? [The Straight Dope]( By [The Straight Dope]( Fighting ignorance since 1973. (It's taking longer than we thought.) [Tweet](    [Share]( If you don't want these updates anymore, please unsubscribe [here](. If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe [here](. Powered by [Revue](