Sexus Animalis: There Is Nothing Unnatural in Nature

by Emmanuelle Pouydebat, Julie Terrazzoni (Illustrator), Erik Butler (Translator)

Overview

An illustrated guide to the amazingly multifarious sex lives of animals, from elephants and bonobos to butterflies and bedbugs.

There may be nothing unnatural in nature, but nature still encompasses much that seems fantastically strange—the amazingly multifarious sex lives of animals, for example. Sexus Animalis tells us everything we never dreamed we wanted to know about the reproductive systems, genital organs, and sexual practices of animals, from elephants (who masturbate with their trunks) to fruit flies (who produce spermatozoa twenty times their size). In the animal kingdom we find heterosexual, lesbian, gay, and bisexual behavior, as well as monogamy, polygamy, and polyandry, not to mention fellatio and many varieties of erections and orgasms.

Emmanuelle Pouydebat, a natural history researcher, tells us about gutter penises, double penises, detachable penises, and corkscrew-shaped penises, as well as vaginas built for storage and clitorises with thorns. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s more data about animal penises than animal vaginas and clitorises.) She explains how the ostrich achieves an erection, describes the courtship of pygmy chameleons, and recounts how the female short-beaked echidna chooses a partner. She reports on sexual assault among animals—there’s evidence that half of female mallards are sexually assaulted—and explains how masturbation helps squirrels avoid sexually transmitted diseases. It seems that animals have been composing their own Kama Sutra throughout the ages. Striking color illustrations accompany the text.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262046589
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	03/15/2022
Pages:	184
Sales rank:	1,067,184
Product dimensions:	7.38(w) x 9.69(h) x 0.84(d)

About the Author

Emmanuelle Pouydebat is a permanent researcher employed by the CNRS (French National Center for Scientific Research), working at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. She is the author of Atlas of Poetic Zoology (MIT Press).

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

I An Untold Variety of Shapes And Sizes 15

The Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) A Gutter Penis 17

The Ostrich (Struthio sp.) The 3 Percent Club 21

The Common European Adder (Vipera berus) Not One, but Two Penises 25

The Pygmy Chameleon (Rhampholeon temporalis) Small Guy, Big Stuff 29

The Short-Beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) A Four-Headed Penis 35

The Terrestrial Hermit Crab (Coenobita sp.) The Comforts of Home 41

II Navigation and Maximum Intimacy 47

The Malayan Tapir (Tapirus indicus) A Mobile Penis 49

The African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana) A Second Trunk 53

The Greater Argonaut (Argonauta argo) A Detachable Penis 57

The Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) The Corkscrew Rapist 61

The Leopard Slug (Limax maximus) A Martyred Penis 67

III Cockblocking 71

The Golden Orb Weaver (Nephila sp.) The Ultimate Sacrifice 73

The Drone (Anthophila sp.) Corking the Queen 79

The Sea Slug (Chromodoris reticulata) Penis Wars 83

Damselflies (Zygoptera sp.) Evicting Sperm 87

The Phasmid (Necroscia sparaxes) All In 91

IV Hold Fast and Drill Deep 95

The Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) The Biggest Boners 97

Phallostethus cuulong A Literal Dickhead 103

The Cowpea Seed Beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus) A Penis Riddled with Thorns 107

The Rondo Bush Baby (Galago rondoensis) A Prickly V-Shaped Penis 113

The Bedbug (Cimex lectularius) Perforate to Procreate 117

Barklice (Neotrogla sp.) The Females Strike Back 123

V Calls of the Wild: Communication, Intimidation, and Deception 127

The African Spurred Tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata) An Imposing Organ 129

The Water Boatman (Micronecta scholtzi) The Singing Penis 133

The Grass Moth (Syntonarcha inastis) A Wily Penis 137

The Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) A Thorny Clitoral Deterrent 141

VI Pleasure Seekers 147

The Cape Ground Squirrel (Xerus inauris) Handy Masturbation 149

The Greater Short-Nosed Fruit Bat (Cynopterus sphinx) His and Hers 153

The Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Homosexual Role Play 157

The Bonobo (Pan paniscus) Anything Goes 161

The Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) Changing Sex and Size 165

The Rat (Rattus norvegicus) Ultrasonic Orgasms 169

Conclusion 173

Acknowledgments 183