22 November 2006

Chimps prefer their mate's grans

The Times reports that male chimps would rather have female chimps the age of their great grandmother than one their own age. Young ones tend to mate with the weakest and most unwanted males. This is considered to be because chimp females do not go through menopause (so there is no biological problem with them breeding at all ages) and because chimps are naturally promiscuous, so the male breeds and moves on.
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Other wondrous features of the animal sex world (watch the search engine hits go up with that phrase) include:

- The male African golden web orb spider has two penises, both of which break off during sex;
- Male goats are excited by displays of lesbianism (presumably between goats, not Slovak women;
- Ladybirds copulate for up to nine hours at a time (which must surely be months in their lifespan equivalent).

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