10 MOST EXTREME MATING PRACTICES

10 EXTREME MATING PRACTICES

Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus)

Applies pink make-up
It’s long been known that the characteristic pink hue of flamingos’ feathers is derived from carotenoid pigments in the shrimps and other plankton they eat. but in 2010 scientists discovered that greater flamingos actively apply pigment, secreted from a gland at their rear, to their feathers during preening – and reapply regularly to prevent it from fading in the sun.

Anglerfish (ceratioidei)

males are parasites, latching onto females and releasing sperm during spawning.

Snails & slugs (pulmonata)

many land-dwelling hermaphrodite slugs and snails fire ‘love darts’ into prospective mates during courtship.

Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum)

A courting male will urinate over his prospective partner before mating.

Bedbug (Cimex lectularius)

A male pierces a female’s abdomen for traumatic insemination.

Praying mantis (Mantodea)

Perhaps 30% of courting male mantids are eaten by females during or after mating.

Squid (teuthida)

the males of some squid species ‘stab’ females to inject them with sperm.

Common garter snakes (hamnophis sirtalis) 

thousands of snakes writhe in a mass mating ritual.

Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi)

the male breaks off his own pedipalp (penis equivalent), blocking the female’s reproductive tract.

Green spoonworm (Bonellia viridis)

each male lives in a female’s genital sac.