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Original Essays | June 11, 2013
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This title in other editionsNasty, Brutish, and Short: The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Animal Sex and Other Weird Behaviourby Pat Senson
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Birds do it, and bees do it, so do all animals, some of them in weird and wonderful ways. Quirks & Quarks' latest book explores the more bizarre behaviours of more than 100 creatures, from barnacles to Panda bears.
The tiny spider that has to tear off one of its two huge sex organs just to be able to get around; the sea slug that produces a powerful love drug and mates with both males and females; the bedbug that stabs its penis into the female's abdomen — the range of animal sexual practices is mind-boggling. And it's not only reproduction that has them doing very strange things. There's a beetle that shoots a stream of boiling hot, toxic liquid when it's threatened; a lizard that can run on water; a shrimp that explodes its prey. Quirks & Quarks' latest guide is much more than a catalogue of peculiar practices, it's an engrossing look at the astonishing behaviours different animals have evolved in order to survive and reproduce. With an introduction by Bob McDonald, host of Quirks & Quarks. From the Trade Paperback edition. Synopsis:Mating, doing it, coitus, procreating, making whoopee, copulating, I riding a disco stick: whatever you want to call it, the sex act is universal. All creatures do it, or want to, but just how they do it is wondrously diverse and includes some bizarre and several downright alarming methods. From the sea slug that produces a powerful love drug and mates with both males and females to the tiny spider that has to tear off one of its two huge sex organs just to be able to reach its paramour, the range of sexual practices is mind-boggling. Just as weird is the way some animals court then mates and rear their young (or don't).
About the AuthorFor nine seasons biologist PAT SENSON was a producer with CBC Radio's national science program, Quirks & Quarks, where his documentary work received numerous awards and accolades. He can still be heard every week on CBC Radio across the country as he supplies science stories to the local afternoon shows through CBC's syndication service. Pat currently lives in Toronto with his partner and their two slightly addled cats.
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. The Battle of the Sexes THE INSECTS Insect Arms Race Weevil Penises The Power of One Bedbug Penis Tasting Fishing Spider Sex Redback Spider Sex Some Crickets Like it Rough THE OTHERS Genitalia Most Fowl Cannibal Fish Infertile Monkeys Meerkat Infanticide Hyena Hormones Speedy Sperm 2. Impressing the Other Sex BIRDS DO IT Zebra Finch IQ Bowerbird Bullies Bowerbirds Come on Strong Godwit Vacations Auklets and Aphrodisiacs The Sound of Two Wings Clapping BEES (AND OTHER INSECTS) DO IT Hot Insect Sex Quiet Crickets Sniffing for Sexual Satisfaction Weta Walking Cricket Coupling Brotherly Love Among Crayfish Bisexual Beetles Cockroach Wars Water from Weevils’ Sperm Lying Flies EVEN ANIMALS, LAND AND SEA, DO IT Primate Copulation Call Salacious Simians Bat Brains and Balls Amorous Antelope Antics Sea Slug Orgy The Barnacle’s Penis Penis Preference in Mosquitofish Amazon Mollies Dolphin Bling Cichlid Dominance 3. Parenting Skills RAISING THE CHICKS Cowbirds’ Bad Influence There Goes the Neighbourhood Birds that Time-share Two-Mom Albatross Families BRINGING UP A BROOD Self-Roasting Rodents Father’s Nose Best Pregnancy and Monkey Dads Stinking Baby Bugs Cannibal Tadpoles 4. Lunch, Anyone? FINDING FOOD Owl Dung Nests Snails and their Slime How a Bat Holds its Licker Its Bite is Worse than its Bite Whales Lunge for Lunch Killer Whale Sonar Sea Lion Diving Dolphin Herders Guano-Eating Salamanders The Hummingbird’s Stopwatch HOW TO AVOID BECOMING A MEAL Wolverine Frogs Bombardier Beetles Toadfish Pee Squirrels Eating Snake Skin Ultrasonic Gophers Crafty Chameleon Camouflage 5. Parsing Parasite Peculiarities Blister Beetle Deception Ants Look Berry Nice Crustacean Kids, Parasitic Parents Woolly Caterpillar Medicine 6. Higher, Faster, Stronger The Fastest Jaw in the South Preying Mantis Shrimp The Mantis Shrimp’s Super-Sight Mandible Mayhem How the Bow Bug Shoots Itself Catapulting Caterpillar Feces 7. Even More Weird Behaviour Washing with Urine Spider Venom Side Effect Termite Head-Bangers Army Ants Lie Down on the Job Loony Tunes Electric Fish Chimp Plans for Pitching Crocodiles Go Home Alligator Air Bags Bird Doping Scuba Bug Head-Under-Heels Bees’ Knees Clownfish Sex Worm Hibernation Four-Eyed Fish Cold, Dry Bugs Tonguefish at the Vents 8. The Games Researchers Play Spitting Cobras Worm Grunting Flatulent Fish Fearless Iguanas Running on Water Wasp Faces: Friend or Foe Fruit Fly Fight Club Tadpole Bail Out Flying Ants What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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