Image: Flickr/Scott Anderson
If you think love in the animal world is sweet, think again! From ducks who rape using corkscrew penises to a bedbug who "pierces the female’s abdominal wall with his external genitalia and inseminates into her body cavity" to spiders who self-castrate in order to fight harder, animal sex can be, well, beastly. But this study takes things to a new, and horrible, level. Here, scientists report that male orb-weaving spiders perform genital mutilation on females to ensure they never mate with another male. Yes, you read that right: apparently, spider genitalia interlock during sex, and once the deed is done, the female's external parts are removed, leaving her sterilized. The researchers go on to predict that this happens in at least 80 other species. Yikes!
Securing Paternity by Mutilating Female Genitalia in Spiders.
"Competition between males and their sperm over access to females and their eggs ...
