Gustation and ecology

[aesmael]

Due to its high natural deliciousness the pancake, alas, is very nearly extinct. The decline in numbers was swift, perhaps inevitable. Unfortunately for many organisms, their deliciousness - or lack thereof - is largely not under their control, but rather the domain of the organism performing the tasting.

What lesson can be drawn from this? One which immediately comes to mind is of utility. If the quality of deliciousness can result so swiftly in the near-extinction of the pancake, and if it is property existing only in the context of an observer - a taster - then a solution to certain pest problems readily suggests itself.

If humans were modified to find cockroaches supremely delicious, for example, then they would soon cease to suffer from cockroach infestations. Except, perhaps, from the lack thereof.

Comments

[pazi-ashfeather.livejournal.com]

Actually, the genetic future of the species was assured some time ago when domestication began. Now it is very common for people to breed pancakes in their own homes for consumption, and in many eating establishments they are bred in great numbers, in order to satiate the demand of pancake-hungry customers. The length and quality of individual pancake life is up for question, but like sheep (who have been so heavily altered by domestication that they could not survive in the wild), pancakes are no longer fit for survival in their former native ranges. Indeed, their breeding grounds--vast griddle-plains in the American Midwest--were long ago broken up by explorers and settlers to serve the needs of flapjack hunters (a related species of secondary preference to the world breakfast economy, but once highly-prized as being more robust than the common pancake).

[jessie-c.livejournal.com]

A good pancake is well bread.

[aesmael.livejournal.com]

You...

*is very loudly silent at you*

[coniferous_you]

Uh, I'd rather eat cockroaches.

[mantic-angel.livejournal.com]

This is my forth time reading this post, due to being very backlogged on LJ. I laughed the first time, and am still smiling to have read it again :D

[flynnacatri.livejournal.com]

Methinks what would happen, might be a mimicking of the shift on fish populations,
Let me state certain points.
1. That people attack the larger specimens first.
2. That larger ones breed better and longer (or 'have done so') due to maturity
3. That there is an effort/payoff ratio.

Therefore, pancakes will shift to a more r-selected society (Like cockroaches...aha! The point to this is revealed) and grow more slowly, maturing at a much smaller size. Whether this will save them - by either countering the exploitation through increased production or by offputting consumption through the less worthwhile size - is as yet unknown. It is possible that they will continue to shrink until the calorific and taste benefits are no longer worth the lifting of the fork.