Male spider mites ‘strip females to jump queue’

Male spider mites peel the moulting skin off newly mature females to make sure they are first in the queue to mate, according to a new study. “Living together in dense colonies can make for fierce competition in finding a mate”, noted CNN, “especially because female spider mites only use the sperm from the first male with which they mate”. Therefore, males have “developed strategies to improve their chances”, it said.

Holiday request written by Chaucer

A 14th century “bureaucratic document requesting time off work for a civil servant” has been confirmed as the only surviving handwriting of Geoffrey Chaucer, reported The Guardian. It was previously assumed that the application was written by a clerk, on behalf of the author. However, now a leading scholar believes that it was actually written by Chaucer himself and submitted by him for King Richard II’s approval. It is “both informal in tone and casual in execution”, said an expert.

Snail racing event is back

A snail racing event, which has finally returned after the Covid pandemic, has been awarded a Guinness World Record as the longest running humane snail-racing world championships, said UPI. The Snail Racing World Championships in Congham, England, features snails attempting to cover a distance of 13 inches, the world record of 22 seconds was set by a snail named Archie in 1995. The first prize in the race is a tankard of lettuce.

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