Book: Wild Sex

How could a book about "The Science Behind Mating in the Animal Kingdom" be boring?

I'll tell you: with passages like this:

Dr. Carin Bondar wrote:

Blue mussel sperm behaves in a fine-tuned manner such that it responds differentially to the chemical signals emitted from eggs of different individuals.  For these and many broadcast-spawning invertebrates, individuals are hermaphroditic, meaning they have both male and female genitalia.  Therefore, it makes sense for physiological mechanisms to be in place to prevent individuals from fertilizing themselves, otherwise they would risk inbreeding and the increased genetic difficulties that come along with it.

Mary Roach would've just said "Mussels can't fuck themselves."

Okay, the chapters on coercive sex and sexual cannibalism were at least marginally interesting.

In lions, elephant seals and some species of primates, dominant males have a harem of females to whom they are the only male with sexual access.  If the dominant male is displaced for some reason, the new male will kill all of the subadult offspring of the previous male.  This ensures the females will become sexually receptive to him, and also prevents him from expending any effort rearing offspring with no genetic relation to him.

I wonder if Arab or Mormon harems do this?

Many species of spiders and praying mantises have larger females who devour the males after mating.  This ensures the health of the female and gives the males' sperm a better chance of producing healthy offspring.  Males often have biology that only works once, so it makes sense, sorta, to willingly sacrifice themselves to their chosen female.

However, this reminds me of too many country songs.

This also led to me learning about the Coolidge Effect and the Bruce Effect.