Today I will talk to you #sinrecato about the sexual life of animals, taking into account that in the 20th Century the idea that other mammals could have sex, beyond their mating season, was inconceivable.
This notion kept losing validity due to the practices of some of the species with a more developed brain than the rest, such as bonobos (chimpanzees) and dolphins.
Let’s get to the point. Here I share with you some curiosities of the wonderful animal world:
Sexual appetite: the lion, the ‘king of the jungle’, is the most sexually active animal in the world. It can copulate with the same female 100 times a day, but each act lasts only a few seconds. The chimpanzee is also fast, lasting only 3 seconds, but the female looks for other males to copulate with. Rhinos, on the other hand, last an hour and a half.
Orgasms: pig orgasms last about 30 minutes.
Sizes: the louse has a penis 50 times larger than its body; the barnacles’ (crustaceans) is 20 times larger; the Argentine lake duck’s measures 20 centimeters when is erect; cuttlefishes (mollusks) have their sperm sacs in their mouths; and snakes and marsupials have a penis separated in two columns that ends in two points.
Group sex: garden snakes, the females, release a pheromone that attracts hundreds of males to initiate a large orgy. In another place, the jungle, female chimpanzees often copulate with a large number of males who wait, patiently, in line for their turn.
Rape: in the animal kingdom, rape also exists; for example, in birds such as African bee-eaters and snow geese, once the females leave the nest, groups of males corner them to rape them one at a time.
Masturbation: male porcupines urinate on the female prior to copulation, while females stimulate themselves with a stick. Masturbation is documented in primates, felines, canids, rodents and all flexible animals capable of bending over themselves.
Sex and peace: to prevent the violent from reproducing, many species adopt drastic solutions. Female rams go with the peaceful males and leave the aggressive ones to fight. Lionesses, monk seals and elephants look for a protective male to chase away the more aggressive specimens.
Loyalty: the parakeet is one of the most loyal animals in existence. The death of its mate causes it severe anxiety. Beavers are also monogamous animals until their mate dies, as are swans, gray wolves, owls and termites.
The case of gulls is very special; they are seasonal monogamous. They mate with the male to be fertilized and then choose a female mate to raise eggs together. Empowered gulls.
Homosexuality: in the first aquarium in Florida, USA, two male dolphins lived happily together until a female arrived. Soon after, they “planned” to assault her and almost killed her.
Agitated sex life: the social organization of bonobos, primates almost identical to chimpanzees, provides a finding of the evolutionary benefits of their sex life: males rub their penises against each other while females have genital sex with each other, probably as a peaceful way of resolving conflict and maintaining group stability.
They are polygamous by nature, they do not have stable mates, and their sexual encounters are not limited to their mating season, but continue throughout the whole year, and it has been possible to document practices that were thought to be only human, such as oral sex.
Penguins in bed: between 1911 and 1912, researcher George Murray Levick observed the sexual behavior of penguins and came to some shocking conclusions. For more than a century, his report was kept under wraps. Among his observations was the promiscuity of penguins, both males and females mating with anyone other than their mate. Some male penguins had homosexual inclinations.
This report came to light in 1998, when Fiona Hunter, another researcher, observed for 5 years the mating patterns of these birds and discovered that they exchanged rocks for sex, which could be interpreted as prostitution.
Rampage in the air: mayflies are the oldest winged insects in existence today. Their life span in the adult phase is very short. Hence their name, from the Greek ephemeros, which means that they live one day. A day that they make the most out of. Adult mayflies never eat: they are only interested in sex.
The sky is invaded by huge swarms of males and females, eager to mate. Mating takes place in flight and as soon as it is over, they fall into the water dead. These insects spend most of their existence as aquatic nymphs, a period that can last from several months to four years.
Experts confirm that, regardless of the species, sexual pleasure is a powerful catalyst that, in the case of humans, generates physical, mental and emotional well-being.
In the animal kingdom, sex is a component that allows them to increase their chances of survival and ensure reproduction to preserve the species.
You choose whether you want to be the precocious lion, the promiscuous bonobo or the tireless rhinoceros. Or maybe you prefer to be a pig in bed or a faithful parakeet or an insatiable ephemeral. Think about it!
Traducción del español: Catalina Oviedo Brugés.
No Comments