Animals that don't Exist

The Late Bloomers

The late bloomers aren't really one species, but rather a new modus operandi that seems to be the consequence of recent climate change. Indeed, as the seasons get more unpredictable, and the stability of our climate circles crumbles, some species of plants and insects are starting to adopt new strategies, which would have proven highly disadvantageous to them before, but which, now, have become a new way of survival, and which might lead to speciation in the near future. The late bloomers, in other words, are evolution in action.

As there are more and more warm days in winter, and cold days in spring, the biological cycles of lots of species in the northern hemisphere are thrown into disarray. Plants which normally bloom in early spring now show their petals in december. And insects, which usually hibernate, get active again after the first warm days, which can come at any time. Luckily for both those cases, they are able to help each other out.

The insects pollinate the flowers when there should be no polinators around. And the flowers feed the insects when there is no other food available. As such, even those individuals which are too quick to respond to would-be signs of spring can still survive.

As the years pass, these mis-adaptations might well become defining traits of a few sub-populations, which, if they can polish their tactics into long-term strategies through natural selection, will cut them off from the rest of their species. However, wether or not they have the strength and luck needed to complete this process, or wether they will simply be “weeded out”, remains to be seen.