Peculiar Animal Mating Facts

By: Annabelle  Maria Jeffrey 

Living in the 21st century we are no strangers to the weird and strange facts circling the world. However when it comes to mating rituals of the animals, some of them are just plain freaky. If you’re not a fan of Animal Planet (or you’re just not sure how freaky animals can get), we’ve combined some of the most intriguing and bizarre mating rituals for you to familiarise yourself with.

Porcupine

These cute and prickly animals would be pretty hard to mate with, considering that if the females or males weren’t happy with each other, they would just pierce the other without much thought. So how then do these hard to get animals serenade each other? Well, the male porcupine will shower the female with a long stream of urine (that’s right, urine!). If the female is willing to accept the male, she would turn around and show her soft underbelly and allow the male to mount.

Flatworm

Flatworms are hermaphroditic (equipped with both male and female reproductive organs), so when it’s time to mate – they first engage in a “penis fencing” activity, where they use their penises as swords to duke it out to see which takes on the female role. The winner of this sword fight is then allowed to inseminate the ‘loser’ flatworm by piercing them in their underside. Once the flatworm is fertilised, the ‘father’ flatworm is then allowed to walk away without having to take any responsibility in raising the offspring.

Red-capped Manakin

The only animal where the male has the coolest mating ritual ever: he moonwalks to attract the female! If she is impressed by his dance moves, she then allows the male to impregnate her. Hmmm… maybe thats where Michael Jackson got his dance move from? Don’t you think so?

White-fronted Parrot

These cute and colourful birds start off slow with mouth to mouth kissing (how cute is that?) which soons leads into the slipping of the tongue and before you know it, the male parrot pukes into the female’s mouth as a sign of arousal and intimacy. Talk about a horrifying first kiss!

Red-sided Garter Snake

Ever wondered how snakes mate? Well, think no more. During mating season, the red-sided garter snake in particular, engages in a massive orgy where one female snake mates with numerous male snakes at once. Sometimes the number of males can add up to at least a hundred! Now that’s a lot of partners! (or is that a party?)