View allAll Photos Tagged copulating
NEW JERSEY 2017 BALD EAGLE PROJECT REPORT
ANOTHER PRODUCTIVE YEAR FOR NJ’S EAGLES
by Larissa Smith, CWF Wildlife Biologist
The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ in partnership with the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Program has released the 2017 NJ Bald Eagle Project Report. In 2017, 178 eagle nests were monitored during the nesting season. Of these nests 153 were active (with eggs) and 25 were territorial or housekeeping pairs. One hundred and ninety young were fledged.
In 2017 the number of active nests was three more than in 2016, but the number young fledged decreased by 27 from a record high of 216 fledged in 2016. The productivity rate this season of 1.25 young/active nest is still above the required range of 0.0 to 1.1 for population maintenance. Productivity could be lower this season for many reasons including weather, predation and disturbance to the nesting area. In 2017 nest monitors reported several instances of “intruder” eagles at nests which did disrupt the nesting attempts of several pairs. One of these “eagle dramas” unfolded at the Duke Farms eagle cam watched by millions of people. An intruder female attempted to replace the current female. This harassment interrupted the pairs bonding and copulation and no eggs were laid.
This year’s report includes a section on Resightings of banded eagles. Resightings of NJ (green) banded eagles have increased over the years, as well as eagles seen in NJ that were banded in other states. These resightings are important, as they help us to understand eagle movements during the years between fledging and settling into a territory, as well as adult birds at a nest site.
For more info: www.conservewildlifenj.org/blog/2017/12/06/new-jersey-201...
New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Report | 2017 may be downloaded here: www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/eglrpt17.pdf
I walked upon this twisted mass of three Black Racers copulating. They broke up the mass and departed the scene, but left semen behind.
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Incecta
Order: Odonata
Family: Calopterygidae
Genus: Calopteryx
Species: virgo
A male Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo) - Latchmore Brook, Fordingbridge, Hampshire.
Some time ago the backbiting and general nuttiness of SL got too much for Tessa so she hied herself to another virtual world. Any of you who have tried this will know that the the lack of any other avis within normal range severely curtailed the normal activities of SL, viz drama and copulation*. So she built and built and built. The result was one of the better sim Tessas. See above.
Need I mention that, in this case, big is best
* This was not totally true. At the time she was having an affair with one of the people who have made her SL so worthwhile. FT felt that a new avi in another world was compatible with her being married to somebody else in SL. Many people "die" in SL and three days later are miraculously resurrected. But sadly FT is almost certainly no longer with us. We are all the poorer for it
American Avocets copulating, Carrizo Plain National Monument, San Luis Obispo County, CA USA
27Mar23
BushPhoto
I saw 4 or 5 individuals in Spain in June, but this one was of particular interest as it's a pregnant female with the sphragis in position. The sphragis is a form of chastity belt and is secreted by the male during copulation. After copulation the secretion hardens to form a horny structure which prevents any other males from copulating with the female.
"Mr. & Mrs. W34"
NEW JERSEY 2017 (Year End) BALD EAGLE PROJECT REPORT
ANOTHER PRODUCTIVE YEAR FOR NJ’S EAGLES
by Larissa Smith, CWF Wildlife Biologist
The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ in partnership with the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Program has released the 2017 NJ Bald Eagle Project Report. In 2017, 178 eagle nests were monitored during the nesting season. Of these nests 153 were active (with eggs) and 25 were territorial or housekeeping pairs. One hundred and ninety young were fledged.
In 2017 the number of active nests was three more than in 2016, but the number young fledged decreased by 27 from a record high of 216 fledged in 2016. The productivity rate this season of 1.25 young/active nest is still above the required range of 0.0 to 1.1 for population maintenance. Productivity could be lower this season for many reasons including weather, predation and disturbance to the nesting area. In 2017 nest monitors reported several instances of “intruder” eagles at nests which did disrupt the nesting attempts of several pairs. One of these “eagle dramas” unfolded at the Duke Farms eagle cam watched by millions of people. An intruder female attempted to replace the current female. This harassment interrupted the pairs bonding and copulation and no eggs were laid.
This year’s report includes a section on Resightings of banded eagles. Resightings of NJ (green) banded eagles have increased over the years, as well as eagles seen in NJ that were banded in other states. These resightings are important, as they help us to understand eagle movements during the years between fledging and settling into a territory, as well as adult birds at a nest site.
For more info: www.conservewildlifenj.org/blog/2017/12/06/new-jersey-201...
New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Report | 2017 may be downloaded here: www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/eglrpt17.pdf
Mantises are an order of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 430 genera in 15 families. Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats.
They have triangular heads with bulging eyes supported on flexible necks. Their elongated bodies may or may not have wings, but all Mantises have forelegs that are greatly enlarged and adapted for catching and gripping prey. Their upright posture, while remaining stationary with forearms folded, has led to the common name praying mantis.
The closest relatives of mantises are termites and cockroaches, which are all within the superorder.
Mantises are mostly ambush predators, but a few ground-dwelling species are found actively pursuing their prey. They normally live for about a year. In cooler climates, the adults lay eggs in autumn, then die. The eggs are protected by their hard capsules and hatch in the spring. Females sometimes practice sexual cannibalism, eating their mates after copulation.
Apologies for posting this but there are interesting things to write about here. This unfortunate female Mallard had attracted the unwanted attention of three males. Mallards are highly unusual in this kind of mating system as it is usually a highly ritualised courtship, and even in Mallards only descends to this when you get groups of hormone-charged unpaired males.
Most birds mate by pressing their cloacal openings together but about 3% of birds have penises, and this includes ducks. A drake Mallard's penis shrinks to about a tenth of its size for most of the year but regrows for the mating season. It is stored inside the body, only bursting out for copulation. Moreover, it is corkscrew-shaped, and some species, are equipped with brushes for removing the sperms of previous matings. But the female reproductive tract is also a complicated shape, and can be the opposite spiral to the male's penis. Many duck species including Mallard have a skewed sex ratio in favour of males, meaning that females can afford to be choosy who they mate with. But a skewed sex ratio also means that many mediocre males would not get to mate. So they have evolved a penis that would enable them to force a female to mate. This skewed sex ratio also explains the promiscuous gang rape system illustrated here. But females ducks have fought back evolutionarily speaking, with increasingly complex reproductive tracts to prevent males from fertilising their eggs by force with their pop-up corkscrew penises. Such as the "thread" on their reproductive tract spiralling in the opposite direction to the male's penis. The female reproductive tract also has blind alleys where unwanted sperm can end up. This type of evolutionary arms race between the sexes is known as antagonistic co-evolution. Females can tighten their reproductive tract to make it difficult for sperm to reach the eggs. As many as 35% of Mallard copulations are forced, yet these only result in 3 to 5% of the offspring. If she wants to mate she can relax the tract and allow his sperm passage. Because the cloaca is also the excretory tract (Cloaca is Latin for sewer), raped females can defecate right after forced sex and eject sperm. Occasionally females will drown during such encounters but the rampant males will continue trying to mate even after her death. I have also heard of cases where male Mallards have attempted to mate with males who have died.
I apologise for the crude title too. I was going to call it "Sabine's Duck?" with reference to the rape of the Sabine Women in Roman Mythology, and a nod to Sabine's Gull, but I thought it might be a bit too obscure. And one final thing: When Linnaeus first gave Mallard a scientific name in 1758, he mistakenly named both the male and female as different species. He called the male Anas boschas and the female Anas platyrhynchos, and it was the male name that was adopted for 150 years, until 1906 when Einar Lönnberg noticed that the female name appeared two pages earlier in the text of Systema Naturae (10th edition). There is a strict law of precedence in taxonomy and the earliest name prevails, so Anas boschas was ditched in favour of Anas platyrhynchos (which means broad-billed duck).
It is certainly the season for over-indulgence for these two Flower Chafer beetles (Neorrhina punctatum) in an Angophora flower.
A pair of Green Darners (Anax junius) after copulation, still in tandem while the female oviposits in the water.
Please read, this was taken in the Butterfly garden 1 PM,
Copulation of Mud Daubers. The large female feeds on nectar as she flies around from flower to flower with the slightly smaller male riding piggy-back,
This is the black and yellow mud dauber, The female builds a mud cell and puts a paralyzed spider in it with an egg and seals it up. The maggot hatches and eats the spider then emerges as an adult.
How interesting, I read about this insect on a magazine years ago,
Looks like my head info Library still working:-)
A pair of Long-billed Curlews about to "get down to business"...
The light was low and very flat when I shot this - I do hope I'll get another opportunity to photograph the courtship behaviour under better lighting while the curlews are still around.
Long-billed Curlews are seasonally monogamous. As part of thier courtship ritual, the male curlew performs a series of runs where he waddles after the female with his wings outspread. If she doesn't rebuff his advances, he then approaches the female from behind and strokes her neck and flanks with his bill, usually alternating his caresses from one side to the other (which is what he's doing in the photograph). If the female permits, he then mounts and they copulate...
WARNING : "The following image contains sexually explicit material. Viewer discretion is advised."
I spotted these two tiny hoverflies in my garden the other day sharing a loving moment together. I quickly ran inside to get my camera and came back out hoping that they would still be there, and they were. They did not seem in any hurry. They most have been doing “it” for at least 15 or 20 minutes!!! :-)
Thank you as always for your visits, comments and support.
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J’ai aperçu ces deux syrphes minuscules dans mon jardin l'autre jour qui partageaient un moment d’intimité. J’ai vite couru à l'intérieur pour aller chercher mon appareil photo et je suis retournée dehors en espérant qu’ils étaient toujours là. Et ils étaient en effet encore là. Ils ne semblaient pas du tout pressés. Ils ont dû faire la chose pendant au moins 15 ou 20 minutes!!! :-)
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Bee-eaters, Merops apiaster. 29 May 2022. Bulgaria.
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....from a walk through Oxley Creek Common. Oxley Creek Common is home to a remarkable variety of birds. An experienced observer can find as many as 70 species in one hour of observation during the spring about 10% of all Australia's bird species and several times the diversity one could find walking the suburbs. In the past eleven years over 190 species have been recorded on the Common. (Source: University of Queensland)
Pacific Black Duck
Scientific Name: Anas superciliosa
Description: The Pacific Black Duck is mostly mid-brown in colour, with each feather edged buff. The head pattern is characteristic, with a dark brown line through the eye, bordered with cream above and below and a dark brown crown. The upper wing colour is the same as the back, with a bright glossy green patch in the secondary flight feathers. The white underwing is conspicuous in flight. Young Pacific Black Ducks are similar to the adults in plumage.
Similar species: The Pacific Black Duck is closely related to the Mallard, A. platyrhynchos, introduced into Australia from the Northern Hemisphere. The two species are very similar in habits and occupy the same niche in the two regions. The two species will interbreed in situations where Mallards have been released.
Distribution: The Pacific Black Duck is found in all but the most arid regions of Australia. Outside Australia, its range extends throughout the Pacific region.
Habitat: The Pacific Black Duck is one of the most versatile of the Australian ducks. It frequents all types of water, from isolated forest pools to tidal mudflats. Pacific Black Ducks are usually seen in pairs or small flocks and readily mix with other ducks. In the wild, birds are often very wary of humans and seldom allow close approach. Birds in urban ponds become quite tame, however.
Feeding: The Pacific Black Duck is mainly vegetarian, feeding on seeds of aquatic plants. This diet is supplemented with small crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic insects. Food is obtained by 'dabbling', where the bird plunges its head and neck underwater and upends, raising its rear end vertically out of the water. Occasionally, food is sought on land in damp grassy areas.
Breeding: Mating in Pacific Black Ducks coincides with availability of sufficient food and water, and often with the onset of heavy rains or when waterways are at their peaks. Courtship is accompanied by ritualised displays including preening, bobbing and wing-flapping. This behaviour is often initiated by the female, and, other than copulation, the male helps little in the breeding process. Often, two broods will be raised in a year. The number of offspring produced may seem quite high, but only 20% of these will survive past two years of age.
Minimum Size: 50cm
Maximum Size: 60cm
Average size: 55cm
Breeding season: Highly variable
Clutch Size: 16
(Source: www.birdsinbackyards.net)
© Chris Burns 2015
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The mating season is from mid-May to early July, shifting later the further north the bears are found. Being serially monogamous, brown bears remain with the same mate from a couple of days to a couple of weeks. Outside of this narrow time frame, adult male and female brown bears show no sexual interest in each other. Females mature sexually between the age of 4 and 8 years of age, with an average age at sexual maturity of 5.2-5.5 years old, while males first mate about a year later on average, when they are large and strong enough to successfully compete with other males for mating rights. Males will try to mate with as many females as they can, usually a successful one mates with two females in a span of one to three weeks. The adult female brown bear is similarly promiscuous, mating with up to four, rarely even eight, males while in heat and potentially breeding with two males in a single day. Females come into oestrus on average every three to four years, with a full range of 2.4 to 5.7 years. The urine markings of a female in oestrus can attract several males via scent. Paternity DNA tests have shown that up to 29% of cubs in a litter will be from two to three different males. Dominant males may try to sequester a female for her entire oestrus period of approximately two weeks but usually are unable to retain her for the entire time. Copulation is vigorous and prolonged and can last up to an hour, although the mean time is about 23–24 minutes.
Males take no part in raising their cubs – parenting is left entirely to the females. Through the process of delayed implantation, a female's fertilized egg divides and floats freely in the uterus for six months. During winter dormancy, the fetus attaches to the uterine wall. The cubs are born eight weeks later, while the mother sleeps. If the mother does not gain enough weight to survive through the winter, the embryo does not implant and is reabsorbed into the body. There have been cases of bears with as many as six cubs, although the average litter size is 1-3, with more than four being considered uncommon . There are records of females sometimes adopting stray cubs or even trading or kidnapping cubs when they emerge from hibernation (a larger female may claim cubs away from a smaller one). Older and larger females within a population tend to give birth to larger litters.The size of a litter also depends on factors such as geographic location and food supply. At birth, the cubs are blind, toothless, hairless, and may weigh from 350 to 510 g (0.77 to 1.12 lb), again reportedly based on the age and condition of the mother. They feed on their mother's milk until spring or even early summer, depending on climate conditions. At this time, the cubs weigh 7 to 9 kg (15 to 20 lb) and have developed enough to follow her over long distances and begin to forage for solid food
NEW JERSEY 2017 (Year End) BALD EAGLE PROJECT REPORT
ANOTHER PRODUCTIVE YEAR FOR NJ’S EAGLES
by Larissa Smith, CWF Wildlife Biologist
The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ in partnership with the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Program has released the 2017 NJ Bald Eagle Project Report. In 2017, 178 eagle nests were monitored during the nesting season. Of these nests 153 were active (with eggs) and 25 were territorial or housekeeping pairs. One hundred and ninety young were fledged.
In 2017 the number of active nests was three more than in 2016, but the number young fledged decreased by 27 from a record high of 216 fledged in 2016. The productivity rate this season of 1.25 young/active nest is still above the required range of 0.0 to 1.1 for population maintenance. Productivity could be lower this season for many reasons including weather, predation and disturbance to the nesting area. In 2017 nest monitors reported several instances of “intruder” eagles at nests which did disrupt the nesting attempts of several pairs. One of these “eagle dramas” unfolded at the Duke Farms eagle cam watched by millions of people. An intruder female attempted to replace the current female. This harassment interrupted the pairs bonding and copulation and no eggs were laid.
This year’s report includes a section on Resightings of banded eagles. Resightings of NJ (green) banded eagles have increased over the years, as well as eagles seen in NJ that were banded in other states. These resightings are important, as they help us to understand eagle movements during the years between fledging and settling into a territory, as well as adult birds at a nest site.
For more info: www.conservewildlifenj.org/blog/2017/12/06/new-jersey-201...
New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Report | 2017 may be downloaded here: www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/pdf/eglrpt17.pdf
Brown Hare ~ Havergate Island ~ Orford Ness ~ Sufflolk ~ England ~ Saturday July 25th 2015.
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Well, a few years ago I was mostly on Havergate Island in Orford Ness, Suffolk....Where I managed to capture this guy munching away in the early evening sunshine....although to get this shot I had to crawl 200m on my belly with my backpack on my back, to get close enough to get a half decent shot! The hare must have thought I was a giant tortoise lol...either way, he was nonplussed enough to let me get to within 4 feet of him...which was nice.:)
Have a wonderful Hump Day Wednesday Ya'll..:)
Hare ~ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ~
"Jackrabbit", "Lepus", and "Leveret" For other uses, see Hare (disambiguation), Jackrabbit (disambiguation), Lepus (disambiguation) and Leveret (disambiguation).
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares are classified into the same family as rabbits and are of similar size, form, and diet as rabbits. They are generally herbivorous, long-eared, and fast runners, and typically live solitarily or in pairs. Hare species are native to Africa, Eurasia, North America, and the Japanese archipelago.
Five leporid species with "hare" in their common names are not considered true hares: the hispid hare (Caprolagus hispidus), and four species known as red rock hares (comprising Pronolagus). Meanwhile, jackrabbits are hares rather than rabbits.
A hare less than one year old is called a leveret. The collective noun for a group of hares is a "drove"
Biology ~ Hares are swift animals: The European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) can run up to 56 km/h (35 mph). The five species of jackrabbit found in central and western North America are able to run at 64 km/h (40 mph), and can leap up to 3m (ten feet) at a time.
Normally a shy animal, the European brown hare changes its behavior in spring, when hares can be seen in daytime chasing one another; this appears to be competition between males to attain dominance (and hence more access to breeding females). During this spring frenzy, hares can be seen "boxing"; one hare striking another with its paws (probably the origin of the term "mad as a March hare"). For a long time, this had been thought to be intermale competition, but closer observation has revealed it is usually a female hitting a male to prevent copulation.
Differences from rabbits ~ Hares do not bear their young below ground in a burrow as do other leporids, but rather in a shallow depression or flattened nest of grass called a form. Young hares are adapted to the lack of physical protection, relative to that afforded by a burrow, by being born fully furred and with eyes open. They are hence precocial, and are able to fend for themselves soon after birth. By contrast, the related rabbits and cottontail rabbits are altricial, having young that are born blind and hairless.
All rabbits (except the cottontail rabbits) live underground in burrows or warrens, while hares (and cottontail rabbits) live in simple nests above the ground, and usually do not live in groups. Hares are generally larger than rabbits, with longer ears, and have black markings on their fur. Hares have not been domesticated, while rabbits are kept as house pets. The domestic pet known as the "Belgian hare" is a rabbit that has been selectively bred to resemble a hare.
Hares have jointed, or kinetic, skulls, unique among mammals. They have 48 chromosomes while rabbits have 44.
IT CAN NOW BE REVEALED that the father of Bristol Palin's love-child, Tripp, is in fact God's own true Holy Monkey, Bubbles - Michael Jackson's chimpanzee friend - and that poor young Levi is just a ringer.
Bubbles was sent down from Heaven to father an homunculus Saviour Child with the Righteous Hockey Mom Sarah herself, who would then thwart Satan's evil plans on Earth in these "End Times".
But unfortunately for the Palins and their fundamentalist beliefs, cross-species human/animal copulation/marriage was made illegal in Alaska in 1978, after it was discovered that the true mother of future US President [and Anti-Christ] Damien Thorne was not the wife of the US Ambassador to England, but an italian jackal! And that the father was old Beelzebub himself!!!
So even when preparing for "good" bestiality, Sarah (the "whack job") and Todd wouldn't be able to reverse these crazy "human only" marriage laws until after she became US President, and they'd get to run The World together (the way they did Alaska) and use nuclear weapons to rid it of of all the Evil Demons of Satan camping out in every dark corner, everywhere.
So... a few years ago, after being abandoned at a deserted Neverland, a sad, sick and confused Bubbles was bought by Madonna in a child/monkey adoption auction on eBay for her kid collection, and taken to her huge stone castle in the remote & bleak Highlands of Scotland (geography note - opposite direction from Russia, Sarah!).
But her cockney gangster [ex] husband Guy Ritchie is a weird sicko, and friend of Dick Cheney, who behind Madonna's back used to beat poor Bubbles mercilessly and make him perform degrading and humiliating sex-acts.
Instead of the ripe, fresh bananas and loving caresses he was used to from Michael Jackson, Guy and Dick water-boarded him, and fed him only cold scraps of haggis with bits of putrid scottish pie-lard for garnish.
After 2 years of agonising Guantanamo Bay-style incarceration, and confessing that he was a leading member of Al Qaeda, a sad and damaged Bubbles miraculously escaped from Madonna's Scottish castle hiding inside some bagpipes, and fled north across the frozen Arctic wastes 'til he finally arrived at Sarah & Todd Palin's hunting igloo.
Sarah asked him if he was a member of an endangered species, like Polar Bears and Arctic Foxes,,, but Bubbles was far too clever to say "yes", as he guessed from looking at them that Sarah and Todd might make him run until exhausted and then shoot him from a helicopter for a laugh.
Then they'd probably fashion his lifeless monkey carcass into a footstool to go with Sarah's magnificent bear-sofa.
But even Sarah didn't know that Bubbles was a heavenly angel (albeit in monkey form) sent by God himself to father The Saviour of The World in holy sexual union with her (no time for any of this Catholic "virgin birth" shit in Alaska!).
And Todd didn't know either,,, or it might have been .375 calibre time for the lustful varmint!
Over time Sarah got to know and treasure Bubbles, as they shared roughly the same IQ, knowledge of World Affairs, Political History, Geography and Economics.
Though the Palin's Extreme Pentecostal Creationist belief system was a little too backward and primitive a concept for a [admittedly very clever] chimpanzee even, and Bubbles described believing in it as being "devoid of even the slightest glimmer of intellectual rigour or sanity".
Bubbles felt an unnatural but understandable sexual attraction to the gorgeous third-place runner-up in the Miss Alaska Oil-Spill beauty pageant of 1984 though, and after many months of close communion, Sarah Palin herself came to feel of Bubbles as she would a fondly remembered childhood classmate, from the Wasilla retard's school & 7 colleges she attended on the way to her "journalism" degree, and so she gave him a $95,000 a year + expenses job running the Alaskan Department of Agriculture ("He must know all about animals!.. You betcha!").
But she couldn't feel sexually aroused by Bubbles, yet, as he didn't smell of fish like her beloved childhood sweetheart Todd - and the odor of something wet & scaley was what had always got her womanly juices flowing from that first accidental time with that Northern Pike (huh?) as a barely menstruating teen cheerleader just learning the evil ways of the world, and how it was that cities and entire countries outside Wasilla were under the control of monstrous satanic demons, that had to be flushed-out by the Soldiers of Jesus, vanquished, and turned into attractive pieces of office furniture.
Well eventually, inevitably, true love blossomed between human and animal the way it so often does in those long, dark, lonely Alaskan winter nights - just the way it says it did in The Bible, after Cain slew Abel and was ejected from The Garden of Eden,,, but it wasn't between Alaska's righteous, devout, beautiful and lipstick-clad Pit-Bull Hockey-Mom Governor and the famous celeb/chimp,,,but between him and her treacherous young daughter!
It was as if Bubbles had visited the sin-ridden cesspit that is New York City, and caught the terrible jewish "Woody Allen's Disease" and...[ to be continued...]
Mute Swan / cygnus olor. Straws Bridge, Derbyshire. 03/02/21.
'COPULATION.' (2)
A Mute Swan pair at my local lake captured copulating.
The cob was holding on to her with his feet and had grasped her neck with his beak. She sat low in the water and was completely submerged to begin with. Both birds held their wings partially spread, to assist their balance and meanwhile, the pen was also paddling slowly forwards.
In its pre-copulation display, the male American Avocet preens himself with water, gradually gaining intensity to the point of frenzied splashing just before mating with the female. After mating, the pair intertwines their necks with their bills crossed and runs forward. The pair stays together for a single breeding season.
When I first spotted these two, I thought they were 'fighting' over an egg sac, and found it confusing! Then I later read that the males wrap their nuptial gifts before presenting them to the females! I'd never seen a pair before!
Shawbury Moat - Shropshire
Wikipedia says: "Males of this species offer a nuptial gift to potential female mates. Some Pisaura mirabilis specimens have also been observed to use thanatosis during courtship. After presenting the nuptial gift to the female, she bites on to the gift and the male moves to her epigyne to deposit sperm with his pedipalps. Throughout copulation, the male keeps a leg on the gift so as to be ready if she tries to escape with it or attack him. At this time, the male may feign death – his limbs become straight and he is dragged along with the female while holding on to the gift. When the female stops, the male slowly "resurrects" and continues attempting to mate. Thanatosis in P. mirabilis has been observed to significantly increase the male's odds of successfully copulating from less than 30% to 89%.
In love et très attachés l'un à l'autre.
Pyrrhocoris apterus (Linnaeus 1758) = Cimex apterus Linnaeus, 1758, le pyrrhocore aptère ou cherche-midi, gendarme, gendarme suisse, soldat, suisse.
the acquisition of nectar supersedes the privacy for others in natures amazing kingdom.
On the far right is the 'down arrow'- click on that to open 'original' size... click 'open' on original size and then hit F11 on keyboard for full screen effect...
Species: Aeshna juncea.
This position during copulation, known as the "mating wheel" because the couple forms a closed circle with their jointed bodies, some dragonflies will mate in flight, while others will retire to a nearby perch to consummate their relationship. They rarely settle and can be difficult to approach.