During sex , female praying mantis have a trend to kill their partners with a decapitating newspaper clipping blow that would make a samurai proud . But as this scandalise new telecasting appearance , just because a male does n’t have a head does n’t mean he still ca n’t get it on .
The entirety of this gorgeous newDeep Lookvideo about praying mantises is deserving see , but the nasty business starts around the 3:00 mark . The female chop off the male ’s head during the courting stage , but like the horny insectoid zombi that it is , the male — sans head — continues to pair with the female person , mounting her and deliver the sperm that will feed her egg .
As explained in the picture , the male person ’s body is still being controlled by nerve in its belly , and “ it can still get the chore done . ”
Biologists refer to this doings as sexual cannibalism , and the mantid female does n’t do this out of spite or as some kind of senselessly random number . AState University of New York - Fredonia paperfrom last class showed that male person who get consumed by their mates are really at a reproductive advantage . From a “ selfish gene ” perspective , this is actually undecomposed news for the mantis dude . As the sketch showed , female person who eat their partners are able-bodied to produce more than twice the number of egg than those who do n’t .
Of course , males who come through sexual union could produce multiple clock time with other partners , so understandably there ’s some evolutionary tension here . As this video shows , biology is messy , and it ’s never satisfied with a single approach shot to survival .
[ Deep Look / PBS Digital Studios / KQEDviaDigg ]
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