Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Thursday Thirteen - Animal Lovin'

I have seen quite a few animal mating rituals, if not the actual act of procreation itself. In retrospect, it’s sort of funny.

1. Dogs – our mutt gave birth to the cutest puppies, though I’m glad I only saw neighbors' pets doing the deed. Watching Trixie have sex would have just been wrong.

2. Mice – we ended up with several generations of pets when I was a small child; I didn’t quite understand what each boy mouse was doing to his girlfriend. I’m not sure my older brother did, either, though he acted like he knew more than me.

3. Housecats – the strays in our hometown used to wail at night like the world was ending.

4. Freshwater fish – more pets managed to self repopulate. We must have had something in the water when I was growing up.

5. Mole rats – you can watch every cycle of their life at the local zoo. It’s rather disturbing.

6. Ducks – this rather surprised me at my last visit to the St. Louis zoo.  The male actually bit (is that the right word?) the feathers at the back of her neck.  She was halfway underwater at the time, which didn't look like fun at all.

7. Leopards – the big cat house at our zoo saw a great deal of amorous activity one afternoon. My friend and I were captivated by the ferocious beauty.

8. Groundhogs – an amusing, low key affair.

9. Butterflies – I suppose the mating flight is much more glorious than the egg fertilization.

10. Squirrels – like groundhogs, but faster and with fluffier tails in the way.

11. Praying mantids – the not-so-tender aftermath of the male’s headless body still attached to the female rather ruined my romantic plans for the evening.

12. Vultures – an oddly elegant shuffling dance high on a limb. They’re a surprisingly social bird. We’ve had as many as forty sunning their wings in one tree.

13. Humans – there’s nothing like bonding over delivery pizza and a Monty Python film wearing nothing but a blanket.

15 comments:

  1. I wish we'd had something in the water. Our fish never repopulated.

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  2. Wow, on the leopards at your zoo. Our lions were taken off exhibit this summer because they were breeding.

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  3. Ah, yes - there's nothing that livens up a trip to the zoo like wanton activities among the residents. LOL!

    And imagining the squirrels will have me laughing all day.

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  4. Very interesting topic lol Happy T13!

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  5. The Leopards would have been interesting. The poor duck dudette! lol

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  6. We saw lions getting busy at the San Diego Wildlife Park when we were there! Very cool!

    *hugs*
    Paige

    My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/

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  7. I love your descriptions. The "fluffier tails" comment created the perfect image. Our lists overlap with #3, #11 and #13. Mine also includes grasshoppers, crickets, other insects, and giant tortoises. The tortoises were quite noisy.

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  8. I'd add chipmunks, hummingbirds (very fast mating flights!), and oh...heck, lots of other birds. Squirrels crack me up.

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  9. LOL at some of your descriptions. There's nothing worse than the shriek of cats in the middle of the night. The leopards sound much more interesting.

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  10. No wonder I can't write erotic romance...I can claim #13...but only if you count watching in a mirror. Still the image of the squirrels is hilarious!!

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  11. I went to safari world (closed now) when I was a kid. The leopards were getting it on, and then my parent dragged me away. My questions about what they were doing remained unanswered with a stern shh.

    Well, hell, I know now. *wink*

    Janice~

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  12. Thanks for all the great comments! The list was pretty fun to compile. I recalled some roommates of a boyfriend that were pretty bold about sex. I finally quit becoming embarrassed when walking in on them.

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  13. My kids got an education when our two dogs mated. That was NOT how I planned on having that discussion. LOL!

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  14. I saw two horses out on my friends land....MY MOUTH FLEW OPEN!!!! I understood the meaning of Hung Like a Horse then.

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