ZooWeird 63

A doggerel series about odd or little-known animals.

Pea aphid. Pea aphids are notable for being the only known animals to synthesize a carotenoid, Torulene. Carotenoids are pigments produced by plants, fungi, and other microorganisms and play an important role in photosynthesis. A 2010 study on pea aphids found that they have gained the ability to synthesize torulene through horizontal gene transfer from fungi. Two years later, new research revealed that this carotenoid may be behind a photosynthetic-like ability. (All animal info from http://www.strangeanimals.info/2014/10/four-photosynthetic-like-animals.html#ixzz4XG8Rz6y2)

This aphid (with the name of Pea)

Succeeds in, well, surpassing me.

He makes some stuff inside his bod—

Which seems to me a little odd.

But then I’m something of an ass:

I dozed too much in science class.

So much I do not understand—

In sea, in sky, and on the land.