Quote: sootyj @ November 1 2009, 11:01 AM BSTApparently putting it in a baf with a ripe banana speeds the process.
Bananas release ethene which speeds up ripening.
Ask the BSG as they are smart Page 6
Paper bag+ripe banana (they give out special ripening pheromones).
What is the funniest site in London?
Do animals genuinely love or is it all instinct?
We just put them next to the bananas, works a treat.
Quote: Leevil @ November 1 2009, 11:18 AM BSTWe just put them next to the bananas, works a treat.
Doesn't that put you at more risk from Gibbon raids?
I have no banana's unfortunately, but do have some brown paper. Will fashion a housing out of it shortly.
Quote: sootyj @ November 1 2009, 11:14 AM BSTDo animals genuinely love or is it all instinct?
I am not sure that love and instinct are mutually exclusive. Emotions are evolutionarily adaptive, we would not have them otherwise, and I seem to recall reading they they have been traced to fairly primitive structures in the brain. As such it is reasonable to assume that animals have essentially the same emotional palate as humans.
Quote: sootyj @ November 1 2009, 11:14 AM BSTDo animals genuinely love or is it all instinct?
Some animals do in fact mate for life. Swans for example normally stay with the same partner their whole lives.
Quote: sootyj @ November 1 2009, 11:20 AM BSTDoesn't that put you at more risk from Gibbon raids?
Nope, I marked my territory 
Quote: RubyMae - Glamourous Snowdrop at Large @ November 1 2009, 11:22 AM BSTSome animals do in fact mate for life. Swans for example normally stay with the same partner their whole lives.
As do geese, and Mandarin ducks, a symbol of fidelity in China. (I am currently reading Wildfowl by David Cabot, in the Collins New Naturalist series.)
Quote: RubyMae - Glamourous Snowdrop at Large @ November 1 2009, 11:22 AM BSTSome animals do in fact mate for life. Swans for example normally stay with the same partner their whole lives.
Hate to break it to you, Roo, but that is now considered somewhat of a myth. Researchers have looked into it and found that not only do swans often get "divorced", they did DNA tests on their chicks and found out that, basically, some of the "married" swans have been putting-out all over the riverbank.
(Bizarrely, this subject forms part of my latest script.)
Very, very few animals (mostly some species of birds) actually mate for life, in fact.
Hope this isn't too upsetting. 
Quote: Tim Walker @ November 1 2009, 11:26 AM BSTHate to break it to you, Roo, but that is now considered somewhat of a myth. Researchers have looked into it and found that not only do swans often get "divorced", they did DNA tests on their chicks and found out that, basically, some of the "married" swans have been putting-out all over the riverbank.
(Bizarrely, this subject forms part of my latest script.)
Very, very few animals (mostly some species of birds) actually mate for life, in fact.
Hope this isn't too upsetting.
Yeh I remember my divorce. She broke my arm and spat at me, I hope the queen gives me permission to roast her.
Quote: Timbo @ November 1 2009, 11:21 AM BSTAs such it is reasonable to assume that animals have essentially the same emotional palate as humans.
It may be reasonable, but there's not much evidence to support that. Any signs of emotional behaviour tends to be linked to the intelligence of the species. The ability of true emotional awareness is linked to self-awareness, which is rare beyond humans.
And mallards practice necrophilia. At least that's what Stewart Lee told me.
Quote: Ben @ November 1 2009, 11:29 AM BSTAnd mallards practice necrophilia. At least that's what Stewart Lee told me.
They only practise because they're not very good at it.
Quote: Tim Walker @ November 1 2009, 11:26 AM BSTHate to break it to you, Roo, but that is now considered somewhat of a myth. Researchers have looked into it and found that not only do swans often get "divorced", they did DNA tests on their chicks and found out that, basically, some of the "married" swans have been putting-out all over the riverbank.
(Bizarrely, this subject forms part of my latest script.)
Very, very few animals (mostly some species of birds) actually mate for life, in fact.
Hope this isn't too upsetting.
You are talking to a girl who lived for many years smack bang next to a lake with swans and geese and ducks that the whole family took care of. I said they "normally" mate for life because I know some do split and find new mates (On the nearby pond, the female flew off and brought back a younger mate so we saved the older one who was too elderly and knackered to fly off to a new home) but many do mate for life and my swany friends from the lake are still together. Until you have a pair of swans cross a football pitch with their cygnets every day to travel to your back door for their breakfast, had sick cygnets in your bath tub, and you are known by the neighbours as "that crazy Swan family" ,there is very little you can tell me about swans! 