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How Animals Have Sex
Whether in the wild or in captivity, our furry, scaly, and feathered friends exhibit an incredible determination to mate. Find out which animals engage in dance competitions, cannibalism, and intercourse that lasts for six months. Discover why lady weevils have a really hard time of it. And why the female Mormon cricket isn't offended when her partner insists on weighing her first. Marvel at the transgender clownfish, and gaze with envy at the humble barnacle and its remarkable sexual-organ-to-body-length ratio. In the world of animal sex there are apparently few traits or behaviors nature has deemed too bizarre to evolve.
How Animals Have Sex is hilariously informative, filled with breathtaking facts and astonishing color photographs. It will, above all, show you why you should never, ever try to explain sex by making reference to “the birds and the bees” - unless you want your kids to grow up thinking that it's normal to get aroused by balloons or to have your genitals explode half way through getting busy. You’ll never look at Mother Nature the same way again.
- GenresScienceAnimalsNonfiction
129 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 2, 2014
A delightful Christmas gift from my fiancé's mother this book is hilarious and also a good start on lots of intriguing facts. Like the fact that all eels migrate to the same little spot of ocean to reproduce.
Fun and quick ^_^
Fun and quick ^_^
February 20, 2025
It's a silly gag book for people like me who enjoy "research" into sexuality of all species. Though, I wish there were was backing to know if the information is correct or not or just completely a gag.
February 21, 2015
There's a spectrum of academic rigor and seriousness of tone in books about animal sex, and How Animals Have Sex represents one extreme (the other is represented by something like Katydids and Bush-Crickets: Reproductive Behavior and Evolution of the Tettigoniidae, and the middle is held down by Joan Roughgarden's Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People).
It's absolutely aiming for the lowest common denominator - it's heavily simplified, and written with a mind more towards humor than educational content. Particularly if you're already pretty versed in this subject, it doesn't represent much of anything you haven't heard before (flatworms penis fence, Argentine ducks have massive corkscrew penises, scientists made panda porn).
But despite that, it's not as frustrating or bad as it could be. My goat is easily gotten when it comes to these kinds of subjects, and while this book does hit on some things which particularly peeve me (e.g. referring to males of any species as "boys" or "men" and the females as "girls" and "women," when those are terms whose meaning is really only applicable to humans and are extremely scientifically ambiguous, when you think about it), it's actually pretty good.
Its major saving grace, I think, is that the author points out multiple times that other animals' sexuality doesn't necessarily say anything about ours, including what's acceptable and what's not. And a lot of it is really genuinely funny.
It's absolutely aiming for the lowest common denominator - it's heavily simplified, and written with a mind more towards humor than educational content. Particularly if you're already pretty versed in this subject, it doesn't represent much of anything you haven't heard before (flatworms penis fence, Argentine ducks have massive corkscrew penises, scientists made panda porn).
But despite that, it's not as frustrating or bad as it could be. My goat is easily gotten when it comes to these kinds of subjects, and while this book does hit on some things which particularly peeve me (e.g. referring to males of any species as "boys" or "men" and the females as "girls" and "women," when those are terms whose meaning is really only applicable to humans and are extremely scientifically ambiguous, when you think about it), it's actually pretty good.
Its major saving grace, I think, is that the author points out multiple times that other animals' sexuality doesn't necessarily say anything about ours, including what's acceptable and what's not. And a lot of it is really genuinely funny.
February 4, 2009
This would make a pretty decent coffee book table. It has great conversation starters... for weird people. The author's writing style is both a plus and minus. On one hand, it's a quick and entertaining read. Boring facts are mostly excluded in favor of kinky and freakish ones. The author does make me chuckle a few times. On the other hand, the author's attempts to be amusing sometimes take up far more space than the information itself. Plus, pop culture references are far too frequent, and sometimes completely irrelevant, not to mention outdated.
August 3, 2008
Amusing and entertaining, but not worth it. (1) The format is totally inconsistent (it would drive you crazy Juli.) It is trendy and topical (e.g. references to the TV show Friends.) It does not give you the information you might want, and leaves the reader with more questions than answers. Basically, it is a collection of anecdotal facts about animal sex.
decided-not-to-read
June 23, 2010Yeah ... in this case you can judge a book by its cover. It's pretty much the lowest common denominator of the topic. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, if that's what you're after.
August 24, 2008
very informational. one of my favorite birthday presents ever. =)
October 12, 2008
Very funny. Hours of cocktail party conversation starters! Pictures, too.
February 11, 2016
Really good if you'd like to see x-rated animal parts.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews