stinger into the brain that causes intense auto-grooming followed by three weeks of

stinger into the brain that causes intense auto-grooming followed by three weeks of lethargy. During this down time, the cockroach turns into a living meal for the wasp’s larvae. *A Brazilian parasitoid wasp of the family Braconidae, lays its eggs inside a particular species of caterpillar, and once the larvae are fully developed, they hatch out of the caterpillar. Though it is strange enough for caterpillars to function like incubators, these innocent larvae were anything but innocent while developing inside the caterpillar. Once the larvae hatch, they are treated to an unprecedented level of care from the caterpillar who, Gandhi-like, foregoes all eating and moving to protect its adopted young, including violent head-swings against any intruder. The wasp has effectively brain- washed the caterpillar, hijacking its evolved instincts to care for its own young. *A solitary wasp in the genus Sce/iphron selectively feeds on the dangerous and much larger black widow spider, using two tricks: it secretes a substance that is like Teflon, allowing it to move into a spider’s web without getting stuck; next, it flails around in the web to attract the spider, and once the spider is positioned above in kill mode, the wasp launches its stinger, piercing the spider right through the brain. End of black widow. If the wasp makes the slightest mistake, end of wasp. The capacity that has evolved in these wasps is myopically focused on one problem, and one problem alone. Despite the mind control and deception that is part of their evolved competence, they don’t deploy these skills in any other context. This highly adaptive and monogamous pattern of thinking runs throughout the animal kingdom and across different contexts, including male cleaner fish that attack female cleaner fish who violate the rules of mucus-eating from their clients, but do not deploy such draconian measures in other situations; birds that feign injury to deter predators from their nest, but deceive in no other context; cheetah mothers who demonstrate to their cubs how to bring down prey, but never provide pedagogical instructions in other relevant domains of development; and monkeys that understand how to use tools generously provided by humans but never create any of their own. Like other animals, we too are equipped with adaptive capacities that evolved to solve particular problems. Unlike other animals, however, these same adaptive specializations are readily deployed to solve novel problems, often by combining capacities. Like wasps, we deceive, manipulate and parasitize others, often cruelly. But unlike wasps, we don’t use these abilities with one type of victim in one context. As long as the opportunity for personal gain is high relative to the potential cost, we are more than willing to deceive, manipulate, and parasitize lovers, competitors and family members. When we attack rule violators, not only do we do so in the context of cheaters who eat but don’t pay, but also deadbeat dads Hauser Chapter 1. Nature’s secrets 28 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012774