For example, there’s the sea slug with the ejectable penis! Chromodoris reticulata detaches its penis after sex, and grows a new one in 24 hours. Scientists have named these “disposable penes.” We wonder if this presents a safe-sex solution for this ejectopenile* slug – “disposable penes, just eject after use!”
Then there’s the sex-changing clownfish. Clownfish start their lives as males, and have only one female in a group. If the female leaves or dies, the largest and most aggressive male turns into a female to replace her. Guys, that’s like your lady-friend leaving your flat in the morning, and your burly, rugby-playing, beer-swilling flatmate morphing into a sexy lady to take her place. Also, Nemo – of Finding Nemo fame – is a clownfish, which sheds new light on the journey of self-discovery that Marlin takes when Nemo’s mum dies. Ouch, right in the childhood.
And did you know that penguins practice prostitution? Some research done by Otago (yay!) and Cambridge scientists found that Adélie penguins engage in prostitution as a method of securing the pebbles needed for nest-building. Some female penguins will lure single males with courtship rituals, mate with them, and then run off with the pebbles gathered by the male. While it seemed possible that the female penguins were using prostitution to scope out potential new mates, the research suggested that male penguins were having sex with the prostitutes solely for sexual satisfaction.
So now you know: whatever you’re getting up to with that hottie from Monkey in the early hours of Sunday morning, it’s probably nothing Nature didn’t intend. If your penis is ejectable rather than erectable though – probs see Student Health about that.
Oh, and just FYI: Googling “crazy animal sex” whilst researching a column? Would not recommend. Especially not in the library. But we did it for science, bitches.
*Note: ejectopenile is not actually a scientific term. The authors of this column suggest that it is an awesome word that should be immediately accepted into the scientific lexicon.
Science, Bitches! is written by members of the Science Community of Otago (SciCo).