Bestial loves
Audio 05:02
Courtship display of great crested grebes on Lake Geneva, Switzerland.
© David Tipling / Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
By: Florent Guignard
9 min
On the occasion of Valentine's Day, the feast of lovers, every February 14, "It's in your nature" asked the question: how do animals seduce their future partner?
It is sometimes romantic, other times more bestial.
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It is one of the most beautiful ballets given in the heart of nature: the courtship display of crested grebes and long-necked ducks.
A blow to the left a blow to the right, movements of the head and sensual face-to-face, until the final kiss ... We dance, or we put on our 31 to seduce the object of our desire.
The important thing is size, seems to think the frigate, this sea bird whose gular sac, a form of goiter, turns scarlet and turgid to impress its conquest.
Beauty, strength and power attract females who want to offer the best genes to their offspring.
In the animal world, the males, these courtiers, are often the most colorful, like the flowers that want to attract bees, like the mallard duck, with luminous feathers that take on a bright green tone during the nuptial period, when the female is satisfied with a beige plumage.
You have to impress the beauty.
Give him a gift.
No roses or chocolates, but a rodent for certain raptors like the common harrier.
Death after love
The Adélie penguin offers a stone to his conquest.
The first stone of the nest of the future newborn.
The puffer fish's declaration of love takes the form of a masterpiece carved in the sand at the bottom of the ocean.
A week of plowing to form a circular figure with perfect geometry.
Other gifts are more surprising.
The hedgehog, for example, can drop a small poop.
Bestial love is not always very romantic.
We will quickly pass on these dolphins who sometimes ignore what consent is, capable of collective rapes.
Love is in the meadow ?
Death too: the praying mantis kills her lover who has become useless.
As for the male, among bees, good for that, he will die after having fertilized the queen.
Golden shower
in porcupines: if her urine is to her liking, the female will mate with the male.
Watch out for the gorilla?
The singer Georges Brassens had warned: “Beware of the gorilla!
"
But the reputation of the most imposing primate as the "sex animal" is a bit misused.
His penis (which my mother strictly allows me to name here) measures only 3 centimeters.
This is quite sufficient, since the dominant silverback gorilla has no competitor in its harem.
And the opportunities to mate are not legion, since the female, after giving birth, will devote herself only to the education of her young for several years.
On the other hand, there are those who are crazy about love, who multiply the chances of giving birth.
The female topi, a kind of antelope, is only fertile 24 hours a year.
So you might as well take advantage and multiply the conquests, even if it means harassing the males.
The bedbug is insatiable, and can do this 200 times a day.
For pleasure
It's not just reproduction in life!
Bonobo monkeys multiply sexual experiences, for the stability of the group, and for pleasure.
Yes, animal pleasure does exist.
We have observed foreplay in bats: a little fellatio, before copulation.
And to thank Madam, after doing business, Mister will give her cunnilingus.
We even measured in rats the release of endorphins, the heart beating faster ... Love, quite simply.
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Wildlife