All posts by Bird

animals, arthropods, dailypeen, digital art, factoids

Gender reversal

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‘Give it to me’ has a new meaning

The nutrients are extra valuable in such a dry environment, creating a situation where females compete for males. I’m not sure why this would have driven the development of the gynosome- maybe the more females could insert themselves into the males the more successful they were.

Reference: Yoshizawa, K., Ferreira, R.L., Kamimura, Y. and Lienhard, C., 2014. Female penis, male vagina, and their correlated evolution in a cave insect. Current Biology, 24(9), pp.1006-1010.

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.

animals, arthropods, dailypeen, digital art, factoids

Seriously, I have a perfectly good ovipositor, tho

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Still a better love story than Twilight.

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.

animals, arthropods, dailypeen, digital art, factoids

Seeing the Light

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Is it in?

Dr. Arikawa was working on sensory stimuli of Japanese yellow swallowtails when they discovered that the butterflies have light sensors on their genitalia. They have since found similar light sensors on a number of other butterfly genitalia. Also, I’m not an expert, but it appears the male butterfly in this image is hanging from his dick.

Arikawa, K., 2001. Hindsight of butterflies: the Papilio butterfly has light sensitivity in the genitalia, which appears to be crucial for reproductive behavior. Bioscience, 51(3), pp.219-225.

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.

animals, dailypeen, digital art, factoids, mollusc, sea creatures

Detachable peen

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What I want to know is if this makes them swim around in circles.

Reference: Fusco, G. and Minelli, A., 2019. The Biology of Reproduction. Cambridge University Press.

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.

animals, arthropods, dailypeen, digital art, factoids, sea creatures

#1 DAD

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So many limbs, so little anything else

My original post was kindly corrected by Dr. Bonnie Bain, who pointed out that the secretions- mainly emitted by cement glands on the femurs- the eggs were wrapped in were probably not mucus, but no one has investigated the material in depth. Dr. Bain’s paper has a lot of other interesting details about the mating of the sea spiders (pycnogonids), including some fascinating descriptions of courting behavior, and aggression between females for mates.

Bain, B.A. and Govedich, F.R., 2004. Courtship and mating behavior in the Pycnogonida (Chelicerata: Class Pycnogonida): a summary. Invertebrate reproduction & development, 46(1), pp.63-79.

Other references: Woods, Anne. REPRODUCTION & LIFE CYCLE OF SEA SPIDERS. Pets on Mom.com. https://animals.mom.com/spiders-reproduce-live-birth-eggs-7404.html Accessed 11/20/2020.

Image reference: Bernard Picton, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.

animals, dailypeen, digital art, factoids, fish, sea creatures

Bigger isn’t always better

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What I want to know is if this makes them swim around in circles.

References:

Austin, C.R., Austin, C.R. and Short, R.V. eds., 1986. Reproduction in Mammals. Cambridge University Press.

Böhm, CC BY 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.

animals, dailypeen, digital art, factoids, fish, sea creatures

Free ride

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I’ve gotten conflicting info on whether or not the males desiccate only leaving their gonads behind or whether they actually thrive better than free-living males.

References: Nouvian, C., 2007. The deep. University of Chicago Press.

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.

animals, dailypeen, digital art, factoids, fish, sea creatures

So many spiny knobs

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I found conflicting diagrams, both from published books, on whether the fertilizing clasper is anterior or posterior to the spiny knob clasper. It might vary between species.

References: Klimley, A.P., 2013. The biology of sharks and rays. University of Chicago Press.

By Linda Snook / MBNMS – http://www.mbnms-simon.org/other/photos/photo_info.php?photoID=1307, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1935773

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.

animals, bird, dailypeen, digital art, factoids

OSTRICH

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This is the grossest penis I have yet drawn.

Ostriches evert (turn inside out and inflate) their penises both to have sex and to poop. I guess it would get in the way otherwise?

Reference: Brennan, P.L. and Prum, R.O., 2012. The erection mechanism of the ratite penis. Journal of Zoology, 286(2), pp.140-144.

This is a series of little illustrated factoids about animal reproduction, posted daily. I’d love to hear your suggestions/ feedback. I also post these on my insta.