View allAll Photos Tagged copulating
Getting ready to go to the museum.
In many places when the flowers start flowering, female TIPHIIDAE/THYNNIDAE wasps climb onto small shrubs or wander over open ground, waiting for a male to come and copulate. During copulation, the males take the females to flowers where they collect nectar and pass it to the female. She curls her body around the drop of nectar and drinks while the male collects more nectar on many different flowers.
Females usually live on the ground or in the leaves of trees looking for and devouring small insects.
Male: 10-12mm Female 5-6mm
Photos: Jean
This is the male of the wingless female posted.
Photos Jean
After spotting these lions ,both lying a little way apart , we drove up to be nearer them. After a short while ,the male got up & walked over to the female. They then ,quite shamelessly ,copulated right adjacent to our vehicle. Well I don`t know about the earth but when they both roared I certainly felt our minibus move !!!
My friends and I could not believe our luck when these 2 endangered green turtles (chelonian Mydas) began mating not 2 metres from us. It lasted approx.15 minutes but it not unusual for them to copulate for several hours. Needless to say that I have so many photographs to process. What a special experience and one I will never forget.
All my images are for sale
www.bethwodephotography.com.au
Reproduction
Green turtles are polygynandrous, meaning that females and males will have multiple mates. Copulation occurs in the shallow waters off the shore of nesting beaches. When females accept a mate, the male will mount her and grab onto her "mating notches" around her shoulders to assist in copulation (Hirth, 1971). Male green turtles also are known to join other mating pairs during copulation by latching onto other males for hours on end in attempts to dislodge the mating male. The reproduction process usually follows a system such as: male searches for a female mate, the male will visually examine and then approach the female, the female will either submit or reject the male,then possible copulation. Copulation can last several hours, with the longest mounting episode lasting 119 hours. Female green turtles average a total of 15 days between initial mounting by a male to the time they attempt to nest on their respective natal beaches. ("Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)",
Females are known to revisit their natal beaches in 2-4 year intervals to breed from June to September. If they don't return to their natal beach, they will select a beach with similar sand texture and color. Hirth (1971, as cited in Carr and Ogren 1960) describes predictable actions by females when they approach a nesting beach. Although they may not complete every action, the process usually begins with the turtles approaching the beach and selecting a suitable nest site. The females begin clearing the area of debris and digging a hole with their front legs. After laying eggs, the females fill the nest with sand as a way to camouflage and conceal the eggs. Then, the female turtles return to the sea.
Female green turtles can lay 1- 9 clutches in a single nesting season, but tend to average around 3. Each of these clutches can include 75-200 eggs. After nesting, it usually takes 45-75 days for the eggs to hatch. The hatchings weigh approximately 26g on average. Once the eggs hatch, the hatchlings will begin their journey towards the ocean. From here the hatchlings will begin the juvenile portion of their life which can last 27-50 years before reaching full maturity.
It is a well known fact that in some species of spiders the female consumes its male counterpart before, during, or after copulation. Some species even display non-reproductive cannibalism where the female will prey on its own kind when food is scarce.
This female Portia fimbriata had occupied a corner of my room, just under the roof for a few days. I used to observe her regularly. Her menu consisted of a few insects but a lot more spiders. Typically I would find her feeding on cellar spiders or Loxosceles sp.
But one evening she had a Salticidae in her grasp. On closer observation I realized it was an "adult male Portia fimbriata"!!! The dead male was facing toward the wall, I had to wait for quiet a long time for the female to eventually turn him towards me. She had almost finished feeding by then and the inner contents of the male seemed empty as seen in the picture.
As the feeding progressed the exoskeleton turned into a mush until only one of the limbs and a small chunk of the mush was left over.
She then assumed her usual "cuddled up" posture in the web and nothing much happened after that.
The male might have either failed or succeeded in mating with her prior to be killed. :-)
In the background you can see a dead half eaten fly and the limbs of a cellar spider which was her previous meal. :-)
ODC-Let's Go Wild
Upstate NY is definitely wine country. There are a zillion wineries in this region. The grapes on these vines are small and can range from tart to sweet. They are considered invasive because under the right conditions they can get out of control.
My friends and I could not believe our luck when these 2 endangered green turtles (chelonian Mydas) began mating not 2 metres from us. It lasted approx.15 minutes but it not unusual for them to copulate for several hours. Needless to say that I have so many photographs to process. What a special experience and one I will never forget.
All my images are for sale
www.bethwodephotography.com.au
Reproduction
Green turtles are polygynandrous, meaning that females and males will have multiple mates. Copulation occurs in the shallow waters off the shore of nesting beaches. When females accept a mate, the male will mount her and grab onto her "mating notches" around her shoulders to assist in copulation (Hirth, 1971). Male green turtles also are known to join other mating pairs during copulation by latching onto other males for hours on end in attempts to dislodge the mating male. The reproduction process usually follows a system such as: male searches for a female mate, the male will visually examine and then approach the female, the female will either submit or reject the male,then possible copulation. Copulation can last several hours, with the longest mounting episode lasting 119 hours. Female green turtles average a total of 15 days between initial mounting by a male to the time they attempt to nest on their respective natal beaches. ("Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas)",
Females are known to revisit their natal beaches in 2-4 year intervals to breed from June to September. If they don't return to their natal beach, they will select a beach with similar sand texture and color. Hirth (1971, as cited in Carr and Ogren 1960) describes predictable actions by females when they approach a nesting beach. Although they may not complete every action, the process usually begins with the turtles approaching the beach and selecting a suitable nest site. The females begin clearing the area of debris and digging a hole with their front legs. After laying eggs, the females fill the nest with sand as a way to camouflage and conceal the eggs. Then, the female turtles return to the sea.
Female green turtles can lay 1- 9 clutches in a single nesting season, but tend to average around 3. Each of these clutches can include 75-200 eggs. After nesting, it usually takes 45-75 days for the eggs to hatch. The hatchings weigh approximately 26g on average. Once the eggs hatch, the hatchlings will begin their journey towards the ocean. From here the hatchlings will begin the juvenile portion of their life which can last 27-50 years before reaching full maturity.
A very hot and humid day in North Dorset. Lots of busy, busy butterflies. Couldn't get near much, but these were um,,, distracted. Not the prettiest butterfly in the UK, but interestingly dull. Lydlinch Common.
Great crested grebes copulating!
The sunlight was far too harsh when I took this at the begining of march!
Autumn Meadowhawks copulating in a 'wheel' . . . Up close and personal for your voyeuristic curiosity.
Indian Springs WMA, Washington Co., MD
Eudyptes (chrysocome) chrysocome copulating on West Point Island, Las Islas Malvinas / Falkland Islands
Plains Lubber Grasshopper (Brachystola magna) mating
TEXAS: Blanco Co.
Pedernales Falls State Park
20-May-2012
J.C. Abbott & K.K. Abbott
Pinal Co., AZ- I was photographing this female with prey when there was a surprise visit from the male.
Taken at Bagworth Heath, Northwest Leicestershire.
I wasn't sure it would be warm enough to see many butterflies, how wrong, quite a few blues about and lots testosterone on show in a threesome.
Breeding:
Lions have very high copulation rates. The female may mate approximately every 15 minutes when she is in heat for three days and nights without sleeping, and sometimes with five different males. This often leads to physical exhaustion of males when only a one or two are involved.
The lion (Panthera leo) is one of the big cats in the genus Panthera and a member of the family Felidae. The commonly used term African lion collectively denotes the several subspecies in Africa.
Lions are the only cats that live in groups, which are called prides. Prides are family units that may include up to three males, a dozen or so females, and their young. All of a pride's lionesses are related, and female cubs typically stay with the group as they age. Young males eventually leave and establish their own prides by taking over a group headed by another male.
Lion Prides and Hunting:
Only male lions boast manes, the impressive fringe of long hair that encircles their heads. Males defend the pride's territory, which may include some 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) of grasslands, scrub, or open woodlands. These intimidating animals mark the area with urine, roar menacingly to warn intruders, and chase off animals that encroach on their turf.
Female lions are the pride's primary hunters. They often work together to prey upon antelopes, zebras, wildebeest, and other large animals of the open grasslands. Many of these animals are faster than lions, so teamwork pays off.
After the hunt, the group effort often degenerates to squabbling over the sharing of the kill, with cubs at the bottom of the pecking order. Young lions do not help to hunt until they are about a year old. Lions will hunt alone if the opportunity presents itself, and they also steal kills from hyenas or wild dogs.
This pair of ambush bugs are copulating on the underside of a thistle. Moments later they hunted, killed and ate a bee.
I thought I should post one of my more controversial pieces (LOL) I remember watching insect porn as a kid on the discovery channel or some nature program and it left a deep impression on me because it got me wondering: so what makes us more superior to them, aside from size? If we have so much in common with even the tiniest insects and organisms, we are far more primitive than we give ourselves credit for; we do the same things flies do -- something about that thought drove me nuts as a kid... But actually we know nothing about how other creatures see the world, even with all our scientific equipment. They could be 1000 times smarter than us and process the world through numerical algorithms or highly complex visual abilities that would cause our own brains to explode. They're not hard-wired to do things as we believe; they just know exactly what needs to be done and are therefore far superior to us.
Stelly Riesling I do believe that Meg Bennett! Especially when I'm around them and observe them closely. I often have close encounters with all kinds of insects in the beach area like bees, butterflies, dragonflies, etc., and they sit on me for long periods of time, even during movement, as if knowing somehow I won't harm them the way pigeons know. Once a dying bee clung onto my shirt and didn't want to let go no matter how I tried to shake it off. Even when I brought it to some bushes and placed it there, it kept flying back on me as if it didn't want to die alone, which touched me deeply. An experiment I did with a fly that invaded my home several times is, contrary to what I always did before, I decided not to swing at it or try to kill it, just let it be. The little bugger would practically never leave my side at my computer desk, buzzing around that area constantly. It would crawl all over me and when I brushed it off gently it kept on crawling, meaning it saw no threat in me and got totally comfortable. The next day, I decided to try and kill it, striking it with stuff and missing repeatedly. It disappeared forever after that. Those are just a few minor examples. Hey these critters have been around the block for billions of years, lol, they've probably got the whole planet mapped out perfectly in their minds! I really appreciate your input on the subject and kind words, thanks so much! nother thing I recalled from my childhood: back in Dallas, there was plenty of nature where I lived and a great many ladybugs. My friends and I were watching them closely one day and I pointed out a pair in mating, to which they said "ewwww grosssss" in unison. Maybe I'm a freak but I thought it was the sweetest thing and I couldn't stop watching, lol. I bet if the ladybugs would see us humans mate, they'd have the same reaction as those kids, hehe
Oh my Susan!! cannibalistic porn, yikes! I thought only black widows did that. This one has taken fidelity to frightening levels!
"...the male is quite simply the nearest high energy meal around, just right to ensure that the eggs in the female's body mature faster"
well, to each species their own! I wonder if the male knows he'll get eaten but always chooses procreation over his own life. Then he would be a most noble creature in my eyes
I know of another grotesque mating ritual among insects: traumatic insemination, in which the male pierces the female's abdomen with his *ahem* and injects his sperm through the wound.
Thank you for your nice words and for reminding me how umm straightforward nature can be!
Stelly Riesling looks like I'm not the only one who appreciates this type of copulation as evidenced on the author's book cover, lolz Thanks Susan dear, that is something I, like Meg up there, believe would make for a very cool read. I read one of the descriptions, this book is a godsend for breaking the ice, making small talk, or just leaving a lasting (possibly permanent) impression on someone by picking out one of many fun facts in it, for example: "Did you know female hyenas have a large phallus?!?" (or) "betcha didn't know that slugs are hermaphrodites with penises on their heads." LOL charming. it's a pleasure on this end too, thank you and everyone who enriched this image a great deall! xoxo
Mallard pairs are generally monogamous, but paired males pursue females other than their mates. So-called “extra-pair copulations” are common among birds and in many species are consensual, but male Mallards often force these copulations, with several males chasing a single female and then mating with her.
The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. Its plumage is mainly white, with black on its wings. Adults have long red legs and long pointed red beaks, and measure on average 100–115 cm (39–45 in) from beak tip to end of tail, with a 155–215 cm (61–85 in) wingspan.
It is a monogamous breeder, but does not pair for life. Both members of the pair build a large stick nest, which may be used for several years. Each year the female can lay one clutch of usually four eggs, which hatch asynchronously 33–34 days after being laid. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs and both feed the young. The young leave the nest 58–64 days after hatching, and continue to be fed by the parents for a further 7–20 days.
Réalisé le 01 juillet 2020 au Chateau Beaumont, Parc des Grands Jardins, Charlevoix, Québec.
Cliquez sur l'image pour l'agrandir / click on the photograph to enlarge it.
Made on July, 1rst / 2020 at Chateau Beaumont, Parc des Grands Jardins, Charlevoix, Quebec.