Staying home alone has made me discover some crazy articles and videos. I have never thought I would play “The evolution of animal genitalia” but here we are. Despite the topic being rather controversial, I have found the conclusions rather interesting. I have heard about cats reproductive customs before as I lived with an unsterilised cat that was frequently in heat. I’ve learned that during mating, male cat scoops out the predecessor sperm which is not comfortable for the female. That is why their hormones rise so much during heat, so that they still want to mate. I assumed cats are the only animals with those strange customs, but I was wrong. If you are still interested, please, watch the video below and find out for yourself how crazy it can get!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=vcPJkz-D5II&list=PLD018AC9B25A23E16&index=6
Questions:
- Have you ever seen a cat in heat? Did you know about the explanation?
- Which of the customs in the video was the weirdest for you?
- Do you know of any other examples?
Comments
I know that. I have cats, but they are castrated. I knew that. But these are just a few examples. There are many more "eccentricities" in the animal world that are associated with their reproduction. No one can really explain why that is. A female cat can get pregnant if she feels a lot of pain. It's terrible for us, but you see, cats don't mind. Love and reproduction of koala bears can also be brutal, from a human point of view of course.
Which of the customs in the video was the weirdest for you?
I think the murder of a mantis after copulation is the most terrible. But recently I have read that the killing of a male occurs in 25% of cases at most, and only when the praying mantis does not have enough food in its surroundings.
Do you know of any other examples?
I read once that some monkeys bribe their partners with meat. There are also bird species that females will not allow themselves if they do not get something in return.
I have heard about such cats` behaviour, but I have not seen it on my own. I have a female cat, but it was sterilised. But their mating process sounds sterilised and a bit thick for us.
2. Which of the customs in the video was the weirdest for you?
I haven`t known before the fact about creating a song during the mating to make the female stay and enjoy the process :D
I think it is a nice evolution invention.
3. Do you know of any other examples?
Unfortunately, no, I don`t know any other examples of such customs. To be honest, I am not expert at this topic.
Btw, I remembered the cool fact. The male tortoise Diego, whose high sex drive helped save his species!
Both of my cats are sterilized, though I had a chance to see some other cats "making out" in my backyard. None of them seemed to be feeling uncomfortable in any way, though the noises they were making were earsplitting. To me, it only seems brutal from human's point of view.
2. Which of the customs in the video was the weirdest for you?
I think the one regarding dung flies and their vaginas having pockets for sperm from different males and separating it depending on how appealing they were.
3. Do you know of any other examples?
Maybe it's not about genitals, but I've once heard that it has sometimes been observed in natural populations, that female mantises tend to kill their partners during/after mating and then devour their corpses for nourishment. Same goes for octopuses.
I heard about Diego! Awesome story. I just can help but wonder if the gene pool won't be too small for the species to survive...
1. I haven’t seen cat in heat and also didn’t know the explanation of it.
2. The weirdest for me was that some of dung flies females vagina has pockets for sperm from different males.
3. I don’t know any other examples, I have never been interested in this topic
2 / I think that most of all I was surprised by the fact about music and mating music in insects and not dancing in animals, as I often saw on various TV shows about animals. It amused me.
3 / The only thing unusual that I can recall from this topic is the parrot fish, which, if necessary, change their gender with age to continue the genus.
A fish? I didn't know about that. I believe some amphibians have this ability, however, I have never heard about fish that can change their gender.