Everyone does IT — and so do the animals

Think about it just for a second: if your child asks how snakes or butterflies have babies, what will you answer? We suddenly realized that, having lived for more than two or three decades, having graduated from school a long time ago and having forgotten biology lessons, we still do not know how some animals manage to reproduce without suffering for obvious reasons (in the case of crocodiles and hedgehogs). And what happens to those animals that, at first glance, have nothing to reproduce with, I'm sorry?

So, after this post, you will be able to calmly explain to the child, no worse than Nikolai Drozdov, how, for example, the starfish at the bottom of the deep blue sea manage to breed and multiply there.

Despite the fact that we used to think of hedgehogs as cute animals, during the mating season, males fiercely fight for the lady of the heart. They bite, snort — in short, they make an incredible noise. And as for the mating of prickly lovers — nature has thought everything out. The female carefully smooths her needles and bends specially. The male does not have to climb it completely, since the reproductive organs of the hedgehog are at the end of the body, and in the male — in the middle.

Butterflies have everything airy and easy. Pheromones, the shape of wings and complex mating games play an important role in the mutual attraction of partners. By the way, butterflies have such a strong desire for procreation that it even suppresses their instinct for self-preservation. Mating takes place either on the ground or on a plant, the process itself takes from 20 minutes to several hours, and the female and male remain motionless all this time. So, when you see butterflies merged in a passionate act and frozen on a leaf in the summer, do not interfere with them.

If we take the giant snail akhatina, then we can say that it is a hermaphrodite, but self-fertilization very rarely occurs in nature. Love and its continuation occurs in two individuals of mature age, and the role of the female goes to the one that is larger, since the development of eggs requires large energy costs. By the way, a snail can store sperm for two years after mating, using it to fertilize maturing eggs.

And in grape snails, mating is a very spectacular process. They come together with their soles and throw love arrows at each other — lime needles, which are located in a special bag. They are pushed out by muscle force from the genital opening and pierce the partner's body. These arrows stimulate the production of reproductive products in both snails. The sexual opening is located behind the second pair of horns on the right side and looks like a white spot.

We can say that snakes are properly prepared for such an important matter as procreation. Most snakes reproduce sexually (yes, snakes have sexual organs), some are capable of parthenogenesis (snakes emerge from unfertilized eggs without the participation of a male), and some are hermaphrodites at all.

Snakes, due to their obvious external features, have a very simple courtship behavior. The male, smelling the scent of the female, crawls on her trail, catches up and, as in the case of other reptiles, tries to stop her. Unlike lizards, male snakes do not use rough bites for this, but try to block the chosen one's path. Males of some species at the same time excitedly nod their heads. In snakes, one can even note something similar to a caress — the male clings to the female's body and crawls along with her, repeating the curves of her body, in some species he strokes the female with his head.

We all know this terrible story of how a female praying mantis acts with a male, barely getting what she needs. In general, when exposed to sex hormones, the female becomes so aggressive that she can devour her friend, not only the male.

Here we came across another terrible fact about the deadly passion of mantises — according to some scientists, the male mantis is not capable of copulation while he has a head, so sexual intercourse begins with the female tearing off the male's head. We hope that this is not the case after all, that the male mantis has at least a little joy in life, but in fact the female eats the male because of the high need for protein at an early stage of egg development.

Starfish are predominantly segregated, but there are also species that have both male and female sex glands at the same time. For example, the ophidiaster starfish does not need a male to lay eggs.

The sex glands are located in starfish in pairs at the base of each ray. During mating, males and females connect their rays and sweep sperm and eggs into the water.

All sharks reproduce by internal fertilization, that is, the female needs a male to continue offspring. However, the reproduction process differs: 30% of sharks lay eggs, and the polar shark lays up to 500 eggs the size of a goose, some species carry and give birth to cubs. For fertilization, the male rather roughly grabs with his teeth and holds the female during the process.

Apparently, one penis is not enough for sharks — they have two penises at once. Only one is used at a time, which is why scientists think that the second one may serve as a spare, in case of "malfunctions".

The crocodile is the largest reptile in the world and, admittedly, one of the most intimidating to look at. But these animals also have cubs. This is preceded by a long, for several months, mating process in the water, and the female may have several partners during this period.

Earthworms reproduce sexually, and they are hermaphrodites, that is, each sexually mature individual has a female and male reproductive system. Cross-fertilization is used. Reproduction occurs through the girdle, inside which the eggs are fertilized and develop. The girdle occupies several anterior segments of the worm, standing out relative to the rest of the body.

It turns out that turtles are not so cute in the mating season. The males converge in a fierce battle for the attention of the lady of the heart, and after the victory they focus all their attention on courting the female. By the way, certain species of turtles during the mating period can "sing" — make several primitive sounds. The process itself in some species is rather rough, and the faster the female obeys the male, the better it will be for her.