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Date: | Fri, 25 May 2007 08:22:36 -0400 |
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Color has more to do with sex, and food (prey/hunter) than warmth,
otherwise polar bears would be black.
Heat preservation comes with size and the outside layers of
fat/fur/hair.The more the better, up to a point.
Color is associated with surroundings and sex. If you blend in and are
not seen well by prey or predators, you last longer. On the other hand,
if you stand out and are more attractive to the opposite sex, you are
more apt to mate than less colorful competitors.
There may be another similar animal/insect that looks a lot like you so
color may change to differentiate the species.
It could also be that the colors most easily seen by the species are the
one they take on. An interesting recent finding was that when red and
other colors were first able to be seen by primates, they took on those
colors.
So there can easily be light and dark colored bees at the same latitude,
since what is found at that latitude will not be uniform, even within a
few hundred miles. I would look at the surroundings such as plant type,
competition and predators than the lack of heat.
Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine
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