The first time was when my sister had hamsters. She screamed so I ran into her room to see a couple of rodents shaking violently(one more than the other). My sister thought something was wrong, though I thought it was hilarious. It turned out that the hamsters had in fact scratched each other to the point of drawing blood. Must have part of the pre-mating ritual. We returned the male to the pet shop and the female ended up eating her kin.
The second time was actually in the wild. I was camping in Kalalau Valley on the Naapali Coast of Kauai, where the wild billy goats run wild and free. The valley is lined with steep cliffs that are perfect for the billy goats to run and play. One fine morning I saw five male goats all chasing after one female. At one point, the males had her backed up to the edge of a cliff and I could tell she was fearing for her life. She made a suicide leap for a nearby outcropping and ran off, the males ensued. The chase lasted all day, with the herd running up and down the coast. I never got to see the actual copulation.
When my brother was walking one of our several dogs, he found a lab-type dog roaming free. He dragged her home to call the number on her tag. In the meantime, our malamute Bolthor became very interested in her, and mounted her. Me, the other dogs (all fixed) and my brother just watched in stunned silence as Bolthor humped and bumped away while the lab just looked peeved. The owners came to get her and we never heard if she was inseminated or not. My brothers comment: “Huh. So thats why they call it doggie style”
Um, squirells, actually. All that tree climbing gives the furry suckers thigh muscles that…
Huh? Oh, yeah. This is less a poll than an exchange of personal observation. Not that that’s BAD; share, and spare no details. We’re fighting ignorance, here, and no esoteric byway is overlooked.
[li] Deer in a corn field (could be where ‘crop circles’ come from, judging from the patterns from the precopulatory chase).[/li]
[li] Galapagos tortoises at ‘Disney’s Animal Kingdom’, with accompanying sound effects - UUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNHHHHHHHHHHH!, repeat with every thrust (about every 10 seconds).[/li]
[li] Heard, not seen, the neighborhood feral cats.[/li]
[li] Tree rats, er, squirrels - the ones outside my office window.[/li]
[li] Pigeons - the ones outside my office window; all except this liver-brown and white one - courts the ladies, but hasn’t gotten any yet, as far as I can tell.[/li]
A pair of Black Vultures at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
This guy I knew told me that he saw two ducks humping. I told him that birds have no reason for intercourse - that the male fertilizes the eggs after they’re already laid (which is why we’re not eating birdy fetuses when we eat omelettes). He didn’t believe me at all. He was so sure that he saw one duck mount the other and start giving it to her. Poor confused guy.
I was about 10 years old when I saw two cats doing it in broad daylight. My friend was helping me take out the trash and I saw one cat on top of another. He said, “Hey, they’re doing it!” and I replied, “No way.” So my friend walked slowly behind the cats and he poked them with a stick. They scattered quickly but stopped about 10 yards away and started doing it again.
My husband and I were walking thru the neighborhood a week or so ago and we saw a couple of dogs. The bitch was chained in her yard and we heard a gawd-awful yelp when the scruffy mongrel mounted her. Then he fell off - still attached. She kept yelping as she dragged him around on his back. It went on at least 10 minutes that we witnessed, walking down the street, then back up again. I’m assumed he eventually disengaged.
Went to the zoo a few weeks back and saw two lorikeets going at it. Even took a couple of pictures of them because TD had no idea birds actually had sex. I had seen sparrows madly humping on the balcony, so I knew differently. I also saw fireflies making baby bugs in the past week. That was a new one for me, as I didn’t know how fireflies procreated. (In the case of the birds, I told the kids they were “making baby birds”).
LEt’s see, one time, it wasn’t so funny-my friend had an unneutered dalmatian male. Dalmatians are hyper to begin with, but this dog was just wild. We were all sitting out on her front porch when the dog all of a sudden mounted her five year old sister, and just started humping away. Now, you might start laughing, but this dog was probably bigger than she was, outweighed her, and his nails were scratching her face. She started screaming-we could NOT get the dog away. Luckily, her older brother and his friends pulled up. Her brother grabbed the dog off of her. Her sister was down on the floor of the porch, sobbing, with huge scratches all over her face.
Another time, in high school, I remember sitting in English class and all of a sudden, we heard this rattling outside in the halls. Apparently, someone had brought their two pet rabbits into class or something-and they were going at it in class, disturbing the lecture. From where I was, all I could see was two white blobs wiggling around.
And yes, I’ve heard cats. I’ve also seen the dog that belonged to my friend’s neighbors hump everything in sight. His name was rather appropriate-Lucky.
If masturbation counts, once when I was very young on a trip to the zoo we saw a male monkey having a bit too much fun with himself. I’m sure I had no idea what was going on. My mom quickly distracted me by saying something like, “Let’s go see the tigers!” when the monkey, upon completing the act, started licking his hand.
Ewwwwww. I think I’m GLAD I don’t really remember this.
I forgot some. I have seen two four-inch electric blue dragonflies locked together in flight. I think their’s was a day long event.
And I too have seen ducks mating, Mallards. It was another frenzied occasion. Seven or eight male ducks were chasing around another female in heat. It looked brutal, to say the least. I heard that their violent mating rituals often proved fatal to the female Mallard.
I have seen cats only once, but it seemed like a community event, with all the cats of the neighborhood either participating or watching. They made a strange sound that I can only describe as caterwauling. A singular moan that could last over a minute at a time. It appeared quite relaxed and not at all aggressive from my point ov view.
Male birds have paired testes within the abdomial cavity just anterior (in front of) and ventral (beneath) to the lobes of the kidneys. During much of the year the testes may be difficult to find because of their small size, but during the breeding season the testes may grow to several hundred times their nonbreeding size, resembling two bean-shaped organs lying next to the kidneys…As in mammals, avian sperm cells cannot develop fully at the high temperatures found within the body cavity, where the male bird’s testes are located. Some birds experience a nightly drop in body temperature that allows sperm development in males. In other species [of birds], the male develops a cloacal protuberance, a swelling of the terminal end of the vas deferens (sperm duct). This functions like a mammalian scrotum, holding the developing sperm away from the high temperatures within the abdomen.
**In most species the male bird lacks a penis or other coulatory structure: to transfer sperm to the female he simply approimates his cloaca (passageway for both reproductive cells and waste) to hers.
Ostriches and rheas, storks, flamingos, ducks and a few other families, however, do have an erectile grooved penis on the ventral wall of the cloaca.**
Gimme a moment to rest my hands from typing and I’ll give you the info on the female’s side.
Driving on I-15 from Vegas to home, having crossed back over into California. A barren stretch of road between Primm and Baker, where we witnessed 2 wild horses mating approximately 100 feet away from the freeway. Sights like that can cause a fifty car pile-up, but luckily everybody kept it together and practiced safe driving.
