Fish That Fake Orgasms: and Other Zoological Curiosities

by Matt Walker

If you are interested in transvestite garter snakes, the speed-eating habits of the star-nosed mole, or how geckos behave in zero gravity, you will enjoy Fish That Fake Orgasms----The Times (UK)

Packed with fascinating, bizarre, amazing, and hilarious entries, Fish That Fake Orgasms takes you on a guided tour of the diverse natural life that surrounds us. It covers eating and drinking, playing and preying, carousing and canoodling---and much more:

Why do some Japanese quail prefer to mate with weaker males of the species?

What animal has a heart that glows green when it beats?

Of all the carnivores, which has the strongest bite?

What creature performs better sexually when there's another male nearby?

What type of bird has a divorce rate of only 8 percent?

Which has a bigger brain: a lion in the wild or a lion in captivity?

What animal pretends it has food in order to lure females into its abode?

Fish That Fake Orgasms is the first professionally researched miscellany of the animal kingdom. An entertaining and addictive collection, it will satisfy anyone entranced by the wondrous world of animals.

And speaking of satisfaction, the female brown trout does, in fact, fake it. It's a trick it uses to find the most potent mate!

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Biology, Animals, Nature

224 pages, Hardcover

First published December 10, 2007

Reviews

[Jeff Guertin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has hundreds, if not thousands, of little tidbits about myriad of animal species, and being a biologist, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My only problem with the book is that although the zoological curiosities are grouped into sections, it is still just a bunch of random facts thrown together, so it isn't a book to sit down and read in one or a few sittings. Instead, I liked reading a few chapters at a time over the course of a few weeks.

[Bre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool book! Some of these facts are great conversation pieces.

[Eddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Filled with short facts that rarely conjured up feelings of enlightenment.

[Shannyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good bathroom book if you catch my drift 😂

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just loved this book, both for the title and for the numerous biological curiosities within it.

Really rather entertaining although a book to browse through over time more than to read in a sitting, not that that stopped me whizzing through it on the first pass.

I have read through it again subsequently in more piecemeal fashion.If there is a criticism it is that more than once I really wanted more information. I suppose I could go and find the reference text but perhaps a bit more depth would have been nice to see.

Still,if you love the natural world and wonder at its spectacular variables you will enjoy this book. Plus it gives plenty of ammunition for entertaining "over dinner" conversation.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books of fascinating facts, in this case biological, that inspire you to grab the nearest person and tell her the cool thing you just learned. Like that ants evolved from wasps or that sea urchins have self-sharpening teeth.

The most interesting thing about the book itself is that it was originally published in England with the title Moths That Drink Elephants' Tears. So clearly someone thought the sex factor was needed to sell the book, even though it isn't entirely about reproductive biology.

[Marya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly amusing book of biological trivia bits. Interestingly, the author originally intended to title it "Moths that drink Elephant's tears". I know this because that's how the book is referred to in the introduction. The editor presumable nixed this title and with the spicier sex title and moved the chapter on sex up to the front of the book. Does it make a difference? Since same editor didn't re-edit the introduction, not really.

And what's up with the cover art of the pink fish smoking a cigarette? Underwater?

[g-na · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title implies, this is a compilation of zoological facts, some weirder than others. For instance, did you know that in addition to having four types of eyes and four parallel brains the box jellyfish (Tripedalia cystophora) also has 64 anuses? (I bet you didn't!) And while most mammals have just two types of chromosomes, males possessing XY and females XX, the duck-billed platypus has ten chromosomes. Males are X1Y1X2Y2X3Y3X4Y4X5Y5 and females are X1X1X2X2X3X3X4X4X5X5. If you find that sort of thing interesting, you'll like this book.

[LINDA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all of the short paragraphs about bizare nature facts!

This would be a great bathroom book to entertain your houseguests- the title will surely catch their attention!

Vocab. words from the book that pertain to my cat:

Flehmen, The expression on the face of an animal smelling a strong odour.

Pronking: When an animal jumps vertically into the air on the spot, so that all four feet leave the ground.

[Smellsofbikes · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's interesting, but it's an entire book of one-paragraph weird-things-animals-do, so it's a bit like reading a book filled with quotes.
Still, there are a lot of really weird interesting things in here (moths that specialize in licking eyeballs to get salt, bats with 1 meter wingspans that hunt birds...) and it'd probably be a good gift for a tween with an interest in science.

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Matt Walker. He's almost as good at presenting nature in all its bizarre as David Quammen. Highly entertaining, and not just for the prurient aspects. Good stuff, and kept my daughter giggling for over an hour.

[Melissa Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating zoological trivia! I love it.

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is packed to the gills with fascinating tidbits about the animal kingdom.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.fromseedtobloom.com/2011/0...

[Shana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of great, quotable tidbits!