Animal Mating Behavior

Question: What is a hectocotylus?

Answer: Male cephalopods impregnate females by using the hectocotylus, which serves the same function as a penis. Some cephalopods detach the arm and leave it on the female. It finds its own way to her reproductive tract.

Question: The giant garden slug dangles from what while mating?

Answer: Giant garden slugs create a rope of slime and dangle from it while they mate. They may eat it after they are done.

Question: How do male dance flies entice prospective mates?

Answer: Male dance flies present prospective mates with prey items wrapped in silk. Some species, however, only give females half-eaten food or empty silk balloons. Cheapskates.

Question: The males of which group of birds are known for creating elaborately decorated structures in order to entice mates?

Answer: Male bowerbirds create structures decorated with colorful items, sometimes even painted with chewed-up flower petals.

Question: What part of her mate’s body does a female sagebrush cricket eat?

Answer: She eats his fleshy and nutritious wings.

Question: In which bird species will a homosexual male pair “adopt” a female and raise offspring with her?

Answer: Male greylag geese sometimes form homosexual pair bonds. They may mate with a female and create a three-parent household.

Question: What is the name of the evolutionary phenomenon that accounts for the massive tails of peacocks?

Answer: Sexual selection is the phenomenon in which animals evolve structures or behaviors solely for the purpose of attracting mates.

Question: Peacock spiders, known for their exotic colors and bizarrely charming mating dances, are native to which country?

Answer: Peacock spiders are found in Australia.

Question: Male grouse and other birds aggregate and compete for the attention of females in groups known as what?

Answer: The males of some bird species gather and compete for the right to mate with females in groups known as leks.

Question: The females of which type of animal compete for male attention, in a reversal of typical sex roles?

Answer: Female pipefish display temporary color patterns in order to attract males. They are more colorful than the males and larger as well. Pipefish are related to seahorses, and, like their relatives, the males carry the eggs until they hatch.