Birds and the Bees Do It. (And Fiddler Crabs. And Fruit Bats.)

Thanks to the wonders of rigorous scientific inquiry, we have uncovered some surprising mating and reproductive behaviors through this week's science headlines.

Or, if you prefer, we've got the fresh dirt on critters getting busy. Sadly, science tells us nothing of whether there happens to be some animal kingdom equivalent to a nice dinner and a movie involved in any of this.

First up: A variety of fruit bat native to Southeast Asia has been documented to incorporate the act of fellatio into mating behavior. As New Scientist reports, the arrangement for the act involves the female with her back to the male, and the undeniably limber she-bat is able to apply mid-coital oral stimulation to the male. The team of biologists from China and England whose findings are published in PLoS ONE have determined that there is a direct causal relationship between the incorporation of fellatio and the increased duration of time spent copulating, both on a per act and a total time basis. It's true. Read the article. Or better, watch the video (warning: very explicit bat-on-bat action).

And secondly, we learn from down under of certain bartered service arrangements made by the fiddler crab. ABC Australia reports that Australian National University biologist Patricia Backwell and team find that the female fiddler crab will trade sex for protection.

Published in the journal Biology Letters, Backwell and team have determined that the female will mate with males who live nearby, and in return will receive protection against male invaders from other nearby crab communities. The female fiddler crab does not have the over sized claw built for warfare that is unique to the male of the species. Thanks to biological research, we learn that the female fiddler crab has devised a method for deriving the protection offered by a big strong claw that she herself does not possess. Backwell and her associates, however, did not provide findings regarding the crab's sense of self esteem.

Photo courtesy of Edie209 via Wikimedia Commons.