From wild movements to family patterns: this is how colorful animals are

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The reason why birds sing so beautifully, have colorful feathers, octopuses can change shape and form, and deer have antlers is due to sexual selection. As colorful and diverse as the animal world is, so are the ways they mate, compete for mates, or raise their young. The Natural History Museum Basel dedicates the exhibition “Sexy – the driving force of life” to the role of genders in the animal kingdom. One thing they all have in common: They want to have children. Ten examples of specific mating behavior or family patterns.

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Anemone fish have both sexes. The largest animal in the group produces eggs and is always female; The smaller animals are all male. If the female dies, the next largest male changes gender: becomes the new female! In the movie “Finding Nemo”, after the death of Nemo’s mother, his father would have to be a woman.

A bisexual body. One side is male, the other side is female. A good example of this is the stag beetle. The male side has a large horned chin. The female side has a small mouth part. A phenomenon observed only in insects, including butterflies, occurs at an early stage of cell division. In vertebrates, sexual development involving hormones is much more complex.

The swan has something most other birds do not have: a penis. Its feature is its shape; It is curved like a corkscrew. Mating takes place in water and, importantly, only if the swan female wishes to do so. Nature has taken precautions against unwanted attacks: If she is harassed by too many men, she can narrow her vagina and make penetration impossible. The same goes for all other ducks. They are not monogamous like geese, they compete for a female every year.

A rabbit wedding is not a delicate affair; Knockers have to prove their strength to the rabbit even through boxing matches. But after intrusive advances and wild chases comes the winning mating: the short fun is over in 10 seconds. Additionally, evolution has developed a special feature for female rabbits: They still have a surprise egg. This means they can be fertilized again while pregnant. Nature’s trick is called superfetation.

How do hedgehogs mate? Very careful. First it revolves around the male hedgehog, the mating ceremony is called the hedgehog carousel. The female hiss and punches the applicant first, removing the spines from his forehead. It sometimes takes hours for the hedgehog woman to be ridden. Then she drops her quills, otherwise the male might hurt himself. That is why the hedgehog is equipped with a particularly long penis.

In many animals, the genitals, namely the vulva and penis, are filled with many sensory cells. The discovery that female mammals also have a clitoris is relatively recent. Female erectile tissue has long been neglected in research in humans and animals. A vulva model of a domestic pig is exhibited for the first time in the Basel Natural History Museum. What’s special about this: the domestic pig has two muscles that allow it to consciously control its clitoris; so you can assume that mating for reproduction is also accompanied by pleasure.

Most animals living in lakes, rivers and seas produce offspring without touching their partners. It’s the same for the three-spined stickleback swimming in Swiss lakes: it builds nests. If the female lays eggs here, she fertilizes the male and protects the hatchlings from predators. This means that the stickleback is considered a caring father. When it comes to external fertilization, males usually take on most of the family chores.

As an African proverb says, it takes a whole village to raise a child. At least that’s true for wolves. Shortly before giving birth, the pregnant she-wolf digs a cave for herself, where she retreats and is cared for by the pack. The boys are initially blind. Three weeks later, they emerge from the protection of the birth cave for the first time and get to know the herd. It usually consists of wolf parents and older cubs. The little ones stay with their parents and support their siblings in raising them until they start their own family at the age of two.

A long pregnancy nursing the young: To make this worthwhile, females of many mammals invest heavily in their offspring. Deer carry young animals for a very long time, such as ten months, so that they can escape predators when they are newborn. And orangutan mothers are considered the most affectionate people in the animal kingdom. They keep a close eye on their offspring for eight years; That’s how long it takes for little ones to learn everything they need to survive.

Parents may or may not always have to raise their children. The female cuckoo follows a special strategy: She outsources rearing: She lays eggs in a nest of smaller songbirds. With its mouth open, it awakens the strange bird’s parental instinct and feeds. Meanwhile, the compassionate mother bird’s own babies are also sacrificed. The newly hatched cuckoo throws other eggs or smaller birds out of the nest; this is a natural instinct.

Source : Blick