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Science & Medicine

Bizarre mating rituals in the animal kingdom

Not only does a male chimpanzee want to have offspring with a female chimp, but he also wants to keep other males from fathering babies with her. So he deposits the equivalent of a post-coital "plug" so females can't become pregnant from subsequent pairings.

Not only does a male chimpanzee want to have offspring with a female chimp, but he also wants to keep other males from fathering babies with her. So he deposits the equivalent of a post-coital “plug” so females can’t become pregnant from subsequent pairings.  (Nick Ut / Associated Press)

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Humans are the only animals that celebrate Valentine’s Day, but other creatures have unique ways of attracting the opposite sex. Here’s a look at some unusual aspects of animal mating rituals.

Spiders

A male spider prepares for an encounter with a female by spinning a web and depositing semen into it. Then he pulls the fluid into a pair of appendages called pedipalps, on either side of his head. Now he’s ready to mate.   (Karen Tapia Andersen/Los Angeles Times)

Hyenas

For the female spotted hyena, the clitoris serves several purposes. It’s how she relieves her bladder, and it’s also a birth canal.  (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

By the way: Shoe size

Big feet mean nothing. That old story about being able to tell the size of a man from the size of his shoe “has no scientific basis,” concluded a 2002 study published in BJU International, a medical journal for urologists.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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