Animal Sex And Reproduction: The Dark Side Of Nature

Sex is truly a beautiful experience; it is one that is created as a means to bring life into existence, and also for pleasure. But nature, though wonderful, does have a creepy side to it. This post will show some of the weird sides of nature via the ways that certain animals mate and ensure the survival of their offsprings, beginning with the praying mantis. 1) Praying Mantis: Image Credit This animal is really fascinating because it paints a picture of someone going to court trouble by doing something that is necessary for species survival. The male pray mantis goes courting the female for a mating session. The courting is successful, fortunately for the male, but here comes the sad part as the male gets its head decapitated by the female during copulation. The body of the male, regardless of being headless, is capable of mating for several hours, fertilizing the eggs. The decapitated head is said to provide the needed protein required by the female to lay more eggs. The mating session may seem to have ended badly for the male, depending on how one looks at it, but it is, in a wired way, a win for the male as the male's sacrifice leads to the birth of more its offsprings. Some female spiders also eat their mates after they have died from mating, but the next story is that of the female spider sacrificing herself for her spiderlings. 2) Stegodyphus lineatus spiders Image Credit This spider should take the cake when it comes to the degree of madness that nature would put a mother through to ensure the survival of her offsprings. The mother spider, after reproduction, would sacrifice herself by allowing her offsprings cannibalize her for nourishment. This part of nature could really creep one out with the thought of being eating alive by one's offsprings. 3) Salmons Image Credit This is another animal that really portrays the dark side of nature. These schools of fishes are known to swim upstream, which could be hundreds of miles, against strong water currents, obsessively seeking the streams and gravel beds where they were born so that they can spawn there. Once the fishes have located the unique chemical signature that depicts their home, they excavate a nest where the female lays her egg for the male to fertilize. Soon afterward, the salmons die. This is almost like nature setting up so many obstacles that would ultimately lead to the death of these fishes. For example, if the grueling journey back home, with predators lurking around, don't kill them, then the spawning definitely would. It is still a mystery what makes the salmons so obsessed with finding their way back home. 4) Caenocholax-Strepsiptera Genus Image Credit Another animal that dies after reproduction is the parasite Caenocholax-Strepsiptera. Only the female parasites inhabit a host, for example, a bee, and they never leave. The males, who live for only six hours, seek out the females for mating; after which, they die. The females also die after 1,000 and 750,000 larvae have emerged from her. 5) Antechinus IImage Credit This tiny marsupial is a bit funny in its behavior. The animal should be nicknamed the "suicide mater" because the animal spends so much energy in a sort of marathon mating that could last for 14 hours. And this leaves the animal spent, exhausted and dying. Studies have indicated that these animals engage in this strange promiscuous mating behavior to ensure that their sperm and genes win against other males that also mate with the same females. Reference livescience.com nationalgeographic.com 1 2