Download Odd Couples: Extraordinary Differences Between the Sexes in the Animal Kingdom AudioBook Free
While we joke that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, our gender distinctions can't compare to those of other pets. For instance: the male garden spider spontaneously dies after mating with a lady more than fifty times his size. Female cichlids must guard their eggs and larvae--even from the hungry appetites of their own partners. And male blanket octopuses employ a copulatory arm longer than their own physiques to mate with females that outweigh them by four orders of magnitude. Why do these gender gulfs are present? Introducing visitors to important discoveries in animal behavior and progression, Odd Lovers explores a few of the most extraordinary sexual distinctions in the animal world. In the areas of Spain to the profound oceans, evolutionary biologist Daphne Fairbairn uncovers the initial and bizarre characteristics--in size, action, ecology, and life history--that are present in these remarkable varieties and the special strategies they use to maximize reproductive success. Fairbairn describes how male great bustards aggressively contend to display their gorgeous plumage and large physiques to seeing, choosey females. She investigates why female elephant seals voluntarily live in harems where these are harassed constantly by keen males. And she shows why dwarf man big seadevils parasitically fuse with their giant female partners forever. Fairbairn also considers humans and explains that although our company is keenly aware of our own intimate differences, these are unexceptional within the great animal world. Looking at a few of the most amazing creatures on earth, Odd Lovers sheds astonishing light on what this means to be male or female in the animal kingdom.
