The Birds and the Bees: Interesting Animal Reproduction Facts

Spring is finally here and with it comes the bizarre sex habits of many animals. Hold onto your hats and get ready to be amazed and disgusted.

One interesting animal is the cat – cat sex is a very noisy affair which sounds like the cats are tearing each other apart. This is close to the truth; the female cat is screaming due to the male cat’s penis having backwards-pointing spines about a millimetre long all over it. When the penis is removed, its spines rake the walls of the female’s vagina. This triggers ovulation and clears out sperm deposited by other cats.

But don’t worry – females get the last laugh in many cases, especially in the insect world. Many insect species engage in sexual cannibalism and it’s usually the female who gets to have a meal. One species of praying mantis requires that the head of the male is removed during the act for successful mating to occur – removing the head causes the male’s body to ejaculate fast enough to ensure offspring will be produced. In general, sexual cannibalism occurs when the female is hungry or feels threatened.

Another type of animal that enjoys an exciting sex life is birds. One species of crane takes joining the mile high club to new heights – the male and female will fly up into the air and then begin to dive towards the ground. While diving, they engage in sex, and if they don’t finish quickly enough, they will slam into the ground. The male bowerbird goes as far as to build a little hut out of twigs, called a bower, for its potential mate. It then decorates it with items such as flowers, feathers, stones and bits of plastic and glass. All of the items will be of a similar colour and are given to the female as gifts. Male bowerbirds will often raid each other’s bowers so they can steal stuff and destroy the competition.

Other animals have a more low-key sex life, such as the barnacle (those crustaceans which stick onto docks and boats). Since barnacles can’t move, they have an ingenious way of mating – the barnacle has an inflatable penis that can be up to 50 times as long as it’s body (see photo). This allows it to mate with surrounding barnacles. Interestingly enough, the barnacle has the longest penis of any animal relative to body length!

One of the most interesting animals in terms of its reproductive organs is the mallard duck. It has the longest penis of any bird species – its penis is an average of 17 inches long, which is also the length of the duck from head to toe. The reason for the length of the penis is that mallard ducks are very promiscuous, and its length helps to attract females. The duck will also use the penis to keep a female within its grasp if she tries to get away. But that’s not the only interesting thing about the mallard duck’s penis – it is also corkscrew shaped! The reason for this is that the females have evolved to have maze-like genitals to prevent the aggressive mallard ducks from impregnating them.

So to recap what we have learned: Nature is scary, barnacles have some mad sex prowess, and ducks really need to learn how to treat the ladies right. Finally, I don’t normally dress like a flamingo – but when I do, it is to explore the sex lives of my fellow animals!