Sunday Randomness #289: Fruits and Veggies in real life and a biologically diverse candy world

Here's a couple of examples of shopping lists made by Daisy, Mica and Hedgehog for recent grocery store trips:                          

• tomatoes
• peppers
• yogurt dip
• dried fruit and nut mix
• avocado
• black beans

and the second list:

• tortillas
• bananas 
• cucumbers
• garbanzo beans
• apples
• peppers (red, green, etc.)
• milk
• large carrots
• spinach

I feel pretty secure that we eat fairly healthy and the kids know how to pick some fruits and vegetables and how to prepare them.  Then Hedgehog got an assignment from school based on a little bag of candy that she got from the teacher.  This is her take on a lighhearted assignment from biology:

"Crunch are generally found in cold environments because they are primarily composed of chocolate that would melt very easily in hot temperatures and have no secondary structure to hold them together. Crunch are well suited for high mountains terrain because the puffed rice in them allow them to store oxygen so they can survive in low-oxygen climates for long periods of time.

M&Ms  live in environments of mild temperature and low humidity. Their hard shells protect them from heat that other chocolate candies cannot, but their bright coloring can easily be rubbed off when a M&M comes in contact with moisture.

Sour Punch Straws live in hot temperatures with tall foliage.  Their long bodies allow Sour Punch Straws to reach food in tall trees and they won’t melt in extreme temperatures. Sour Punch Straws are not generally found in colder regions of the world because their soft bodies are very susceptible to chocolate based predators, many of which are immune to their sour poison.

Gobstopper live on the ocean floors of cold oceans. They are nearly unbreakable making them perfectly suited for the high pressure of ocean floors. Gobstoppers have no need for eyes in their near lightless environment but instead they use heat sensors imbedded in their most outer layer to sense pray and predators.

Starbursts are native to dry deserts. Their bodies are capable of storing large amounts of water to survive in hot, dry weather.  Starbursts are protected from the sun by their waxy wrappers so their soft flesh won’t boil in the sun.

Sweettarts make their home in tide pools surrounding oceans. Their hardened bodies protect them from the eroding tides and predators. Sweettarts’ indented center allows small sugar algae to settle there making them easy prey for the organism.

Laffy Taffy live in rainforests around the world. Their bright coloring allow them to blend in with fruit around the rainforest where they lay in wait to attack and eat their prey as they go to get fruit. On Laffy Taffy wrappers there are jokes that are meant to distract predators with laughter so the Laffy Taffy can run away or hide.

Twizzlers and Sour Punch Straws are very similar in size, structure, and environment so they are able to make viable offspring called Twaws, but they are infertile. Because this post-zygotic barrier, Sour Punch Straws and Twizzlers are unable to make a hybrid species and remain reproductively isolated from each other.

Gobstoppers and Crunch are spatially isolated from each other so they are unable to create hybrid offspring with each other. Gobstoppers live on the deep ocean floor and Crunch live on high mountain tops. If they ever were to cross paths, they would probably die before any reproducing could occur.

Almond Joys and Twix are behaviorally isolated from each other. Although they  would be physically able to create virile and viable offspring, their mating rituals are different, so they won’t reproduce with one another. To show off to potential mates, male Twix spin in very tight circles to show their strength of body and genes. In Almond Joys, males emit certain smells to attract mates and to ward off other competition for mates. Because they have such different mating rituals, they do not reproduce with one another.

Skittles and starburst both have the homologous structure of chewiness to help them store water in their bodies. Both Snickers and Twix have caramel as a homologous structure which allows these two species deter predators with the sticky substance that makes them seem as though they’re too much work to try and eat. Twizzlers and Sour Punch Straws both have lines in their bodies which help them to sweat and protect a majority of their skin from the harsh sun."