Wednesday, April 2, 2008

We have a winner!

The correct answer to my contest was the OBELISK POSTURE or OBELISKING. I got a lot of correct responses describing the function of the behavior, but I was looking for the actual phrase. I know some of you looked it up using google, which is ok because hey, I made you learn something!

The winner is Melody (thewillowtree on etsy), who will be getting one of my baby monsters. Congrats!

Dragonflies and damselflies sometimes use this posture to thermoregulate. On hot days they want to minimize the surface area of their body that is contacted by the sun. To do this, they point their abdomen in the direction of the sun. When the sun is directly overhead they look quite silly, and resemble an obelisk (which is a tall pointed structure). Some males also use this posture to guard their territory, as a warning to other males.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey! I learned something! I love the new additions to your etsy site!

Melody said...

Yay!! Thanks, I can't wait to get my baby monster :)