10 Animals with Fascinating Mating Rituals

Speedy Summary

• Leopard Slugs: Engage in a bizarre mating dance, dangling from mucus threads, exchanging sperm, and eating the slime. Slugs can hold sperm for months or years.
• Female Dolphins: Have fully functional clitorises offering pleasure akin to humans, used for bonding beyond reproduction.Evidence supports same-sex interactions among dolphins.
• Male Roundworms: Motivated by brain protein (NPR-5) to overlook dangers while seeking mates,prioritizing reproduction over survival needs.
• Salamanders: Travel up to 9 miles for physical mating rituals; sexual salamanders expend more effort than their asexual counterparts due to genetic benefits of reproduction.
• Trilobites (extinct): Male trilobites jousted using head-mounted tridents in competition for mates-earliest recorded evidence of sexual combat behavior.
• Penguins: Early explorers documented graphic Adélie penguin “hooligan” behaviors including necrophilia and coercion but suppressed details at publication due to societal norms at the time.
• Bali Monkeys (Macaques): Observed using stones as self-masturbation tools across sexes and age groups; young males were especially enthusiastic users.
• Fish Species Creation: Cross-breeding among cichlids resulted in hybrid offspring forming around 40 new species a million years ago in Lake Mweru.
• Giraffes: Unique courtship involves females urinating into males’ mouths for fertility testing; however, actual intercourse is often