Sex and Animals: Part Two.

As we’ve learned from Sex and Animals: Part One, there’s a whole wide world of gender expression out there in the wild kingdom.

Which of our favorite creatures consider themselves gender-flexible?

 

The Parrot Fish!

 

Parrot fish, sea bass and groupers are known for their gender swapping.  In a school, the majority of the fish are born female.  There is one male fish that protects and mates with the females.  If this single male fish dies, the female fish do not sit around waiting to be saved!  What do they do?  The largest female fish takes over the role of the male to the extent that she becomes a he and grows testicles.  He’s even able to produce sperm!

No one is certain how these fish pull of such a transformation.  They do know, however, that this gives them the evolutionary advantage as they are able to repopulate at quicker rates. The gender-swap is also accompanied by a spectacular color change in the scales. We think that’s pretty beautiful.

Garter Snake Orgy…no, seriously

The Garter snake’s gender switch takes place in the middle of a giant snake orgy.  Sounds like fun, right? Let’s see how this plays out…

The male Garter snake will hibernate underground for months.  Once he pokes his head out of the ground, his first priority is snuggling up with some fellow snakes.  In fact, the snakes are SO ready to mate that they copulate in large groups, which creates a large snake mating ball.

Here’s where being a female snake really has its benefit.  The female snakes tend to stay in the middle of the orgy-ball.  This ends up protecting them from predators, such as birds, who attack the mating balls.  So, the male snakes will often make their way to the middle to protect themselves by mimicking female behavior, even going so far as flashing false female genitals. Well, what happens in a mating ball stays in a mating ball.

 

Some slug love

The Banana slug is a biologically intersex creature (they have both male and female organs), and we think that’s just fantastic! Two slugs begin their mating process by tasting the slime left on their trails, and then begin to cozy up around each other in form similar to a heart.  Then, out comes the penises.  Oh, and they have HUGE penises.  Their penises can be as long as their bodies actually.

To mate, they whip out their body-sized penises together and insert them into each other, swapping sperm. They do this for a long time.  Hours, in fact. You go slugs.

As is stated in THE T PARTY, “wilderness is not the wide-open spaces, but the wild things that that fill it”. We hope you’ve enjoyed Sex and Animals: Part Two.