Trotsky said: "...unlike frogs who just croak a lot and then jump on each
other."
Never heard of foreplay? Sounds like a nightclub on a Saturday night. At
least Newtlings wouldn't argue about who got to sleep in the wet patch.
Other ideas about Newtlings. How about if...?
- When they reach sexual maturity they all start off female.
- When the concentration of a certain hormone drops below a certain level
female newtlings change sex.
- The males produce this hormone. This would mean that in a given volume
of water the number of Newtling males would stay roughly constant. Every
time the number drops below this level new males are produced from the
(vastly greater in number) females.
- Some Newtlings never loose their gills or develop lungs. If there isn't
a lot of competition for food the tadpoles stay in a neotenous (according
to an old tropical fish magazine this means they're adult with some larval
charateristics) state - developing arms and legs but still 100% aquatic.
[For a mechanism that could control this change, how about diet? If the
Newtling tadpole eats it's prefered foods it will stay aquatic. The diet
required to become a bachelor is something they wouldn't normally eat
through choice (each other?) so only if food is really tight will they
resort to it, triggering the change.]
5. The Dragonewts know all about this lot and deliberately breed slave
Newtlings, feeding them the right food and bathing them in the correct
hormones to keep them in the state they want.
Ash