From an evolutionary and biological perspective, animals are driven to have sex in order to procreate. But there is a lot more to sexual relations between animals. Animal sex is at least as strange and varied as human sex. A male might copulate with many females. And female animals of many species can be choosy, too. Homosexuality is common. Monogamy is rare. And the animal kingdom is full of swingers. In short, with animals, sex can be wild.
Latest about animal sex
Strange love: 13 animals with truly weird courtship rituals
For Valentine's Day, Live Science gathers together some of the more extravagant and outlandish courtship rituals in the animal kingdom.
Giraffe sex is even weirder than we thought, and it involves pee
Giraffes don't go into heat, don't have a breeding season and don't make mating calls. So how do giraffes know when it's the right time for love?
Animal sex: How birds do it
Birds have sex via an internal chamber called a cloaca that is present on both male and female animals.
Animal Sex: How Mosquitoes Do It
Mosquito reproduction involves swarms, behavior-altering seminal fluid and tons of eggs.
Rare Kissing Octopus Unveiled For the First Time
Scientists are unveiling a rare Pacific octopus with a taste for eating its partners during sex
These male spiders use built-in leg catapults to escape sexual cannibalism
Once mating is over, male orb-weavers catapult off the bodies of females to avoid being eaten, moving at a speed that's too fast to glimpse with the naked eye.
World's most elusive giant squid could be monogamous, female corpse hints
A female giant squid caught off the coast of Japan mated with a single male in her lifetime, a surprising finding given what little is known about these creatures' reproduction.
Why do some animals have sperm 20 times the length of their bodies?
Sperm come in tons of sizes, and it all has to do with how they have to find the egg.
