Amorous Squid Seeks Partner: Any Sex Will Do

[n2doc]

By JAMES GORMAN
Published: September 20, 2011


A five-and-a-half-inch deep-sea squid that lives a solitary life up to half a mile down in the dark waters of the Pacific Ocean is the latest addition to the hundreds of species that are known to engage in same-sex sex.

Over the years, scientists have added one creature after another to the list, making it clear that although nature may abhor a vacuum, it seems to be fine with just about everything else.

Male squid, for example, pay no attention to the sex of other squid. Understandably so. They live alone in the dark, males and females are hard to tell apart, and only occasionally do squids pass in the night. Far better to risk wasting a few million sperm than to miss out on a chance to reproduce.

This is only one among many sorts of same-sex sexual behavior. In some insect species, males engage in traumatic insemination, which is just what it sounds like, of other males and females alike. Among mammals, bottlenose dolphins and bonobos engage in lots of different kinds of sex. Male dolphins pursue sex with males and females equally, but the females show a preference for males. Bonobos pair off in all the combinations, often.

more

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/science/21squid.html

[Kennah]

1. The expression "Men are pigs" is officially now "Men are squids"

:popcorn:

[givemebackmycountry]

2. Gee, and I thought that we were supposed to be evolved.

I prefer the nature may abhor a vacuum theory if you will.

"I just want to party all the time, party all the time"!

:evilgrin:

[saras]

3. Corporate media - it figures

Of all the potential "gay animal" stories, this is the sort that the media will latch onto. Aggression? Gay stereotypes? You're on. Front page of the Times. But, say, swans, where gay males mate for life and raise adopted chicks more successfully than male-female pairs? Not likely.

But I'm biased. School started again today, and they have the New York Times for free. After three months, I'd forgotten how really horrible it is. It's mindboggling to think that it was, not so long ago, considered to be one of the world's intellectual achievements. I'd be afraid to wipe my ass with it, for fear of catching something.

[Kennah]

5. I think the article says more about men

If it's dark and no one's looking, we'll stick our dicks in any hole.

[REP]

4. Just ask Early

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BkhHuz6_9YU/TfBW2LruIHI/AAAAAAAACTU/NOJP6aC1EfE/s1600/Early+Cuyler.jpeg

[aquart]

6. IOW, a male will screw a knothole in a tree.

I remember a silly thing called a "purity test" that was circulated in my late youth. One of the questions was "Have you ever had intercourse with your dead dinner meat?" Girls immediately said NO!. Boys wanted further clarification of "dinner meat."

[WingDinger]

7. Yeah, but that beak could stop the process at foreplay.

[BR_Parkway]

8. Taibbi called GS a giant sucking vampire squid - must have known

that squids will fuck anything