The variety of mating habits in the animal world is astounding, and evidence of the creativity of a amazingly inventive creator. Yes, i am incredule towards the hability of evolution to be able to create such variety of mating practices.
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/LifeSciences42.html
a. The amazingly complex, radically different, yet complementary reproductive systems of the male and female must have completely and independently evolved at each stage about the same time and place. Just a slight incompleteness in only one of the two would make both reproductive systems useless, and the organism would become extinct.
b. The physical, chemical, and emotional systems of the male and female would also need to be compatible.a
c. The millions of complex products of a male reproductive system (pollen or sperm) must have an affinity for and a mechanical, chemical,b and electricalc compatibility with the eggs of the female reproductive system.
d. The many intricate processes occurring at the molecular level inside the fertilized egg would have to work with fantastic precision—processes that scientists can describe only in a general sense.d
e. The environment of this fertilized egg, from conception through adulthood and until it also reproduced with another sexually capable adult (who also “accidentally” evolved), would have to be tightly controlled.
f. This remarkable string of “accidents” must have been repeated for millions of species.
http://reasonandscience.heavenforum.org/t1631-30-strangest-animal-mating-habits
Sexual reproduction:
Hippos: Where Poop Is A Turn On
There may have been a "Jerry Springer" episode about this... A male hippopotamus attracts a female by spraying her with his feces, Discovery Science reports. And who says bathroom talk isn't sexy?
Flamingos: Just A Touch Of Makeup
Flamingos may use pigments from gland secretions to improve the color of their feathers, thus attracting better mates. A study from the Estacion Biologica de Donana in Spain found that there was no particular reason for flamingos to alter their colors, except for mating purposes. L'Oreal and Maybelline should look into this new potential client base.
Midges: It Sucks
A midge engages in intercourse by sucking out the male's bodily fluids. Enough said.
Garter Snakes: One Big Orgy
For the Red-Sided Garter Snake, orgies aren't just a fantasy, they're very much a reality. But men, don't get too excited yet. According to Neatorama, it's the females who have sex with hundreds of partners during the mating season. The snake ladies release a pherome to attract the men and quickly a "mating ball" forms, which is, just as the name implies, a big ball of snakes trying to mate.
Porcupines: It's No Hazing Ritual
This porcupine mating ritual could easily be confused for a fraternity hazing ritual. But, according to Discovery Science, a male porcupine will shower a female with his urine before mating, and there's no keg stand involved.
Elephants: Keeping Romance Alive
Who said chivalry was dead? The male elephant takes his time to woo a female, courting her over a period of weeks before mating. While flowers and chocolate aren't included, the male does bring the female food and squirt her with water.
Mosquitoes: A Little Love Song
Who knew such an obnoxious insect could be so very romantic with its own species? Mosquitoes flap their little wings, producing various sound frequencies (or to us, an annoying buzz). While the male normally produces a sound around 600 hertz, the female makes a 400 hertz sound. But compromise is key with these buggers. Both sexes are willing to adjust their sound level to create a harmonic match.
Snakes: Like A Magic Trick, Only Better
According to a BBC article, not only does a snake have two intromittent organs, but it also has the ability to turn its penis inside-out to better fit the female.
Bowerbird: Not Just a Bachelor-pad
The male bowerbird doesn't settle for just any old bachelor-pad to woo his mate. Instead, NileGuide reports that he takes the time to decorate his nest, collecting feathers, flowers, berries, and shells to beautify his home and woo female Bowerbirds during mating season. The female Bowerbird chooses the nest that she likes best, and settles in with a male for the season. Perhaps men should spend a little more time decorating their apartments.
Praying mantis
The sexual habits of the praying mantis are popularly misunderstood, though somewhat infamous. The common understanding is that the female eats the male’s head during mating. This is not entirely true, at least not all of the time. For one species, Mantis religiosa, eating the head is required for reproduction to occur properly, and it causes the male’s body to ejaculate more quickly.
Flatworms
Because flatworms are hermaphroditic, capable of being the male or female during sexual reproduction, the first rule in mating for any pair of these lovers is to decide who plays what role. To settle it, they engage in an activity that has been described as "penis fencing," which is pretty much what it sounds like. Using their penises as swords, the two flatworms battle it out to see who can inseminate the other first, which is accomplished by stabbing the other in the underside. The loser ends up being the mother.
Water striders
For those of you who like to spice up your sex lives by adding an element of danger, you may have found your insect equivalent in the water strider. These little charismatic insects are best known for their ability to walk on water, but their dicey sex lives might be what truly sets them apart as miracle workers.
During both courting and copulation, male water striders are known to tap their legs against the water's surface in a pattern that purposely lures predatory fish. Scientists speculate that the risky behavior encourages the female to mate quickly, to give the guy what he wants before she becomes fish food.
Red-capped manakin
The male red-capped manakin might have the slickest mating dance of them all. When he comes across a lady manakin, he channels his inner Michael Jackson and starts moonwalking. (You have to see it to believe it.)If the female is impressed (and how couldn't she be?), she'll allow him to mate.
Hooded seals
Female hooded seals have some unusual mate preferences: they're allured by males that have the most attractive nasal balloons.
What are nasal balloons, you ask? Male hooded seals have evolved specialized pinkish-red nasal cavities that they can blow up like bubblegum. To get a female's attention, the male will often blow up his balloon and start bouncing it around. It's a bizarre sight, to say the least. The cavities can expand to roughly the shape of the seal's head.
Anglerfish
When scientists first started capturing anglerfish for study, they were baffled at why all the specimens were female. Where were all the males? Though the males were nowhere to be found, female anglerfish were rarely discovered alone. Many came with tiny parasites attached to them. After more careful examination, however, scientists reached a shocking realization: those tiny attachments weren't parasites; they were the male anglerfish! In some species, the males are not even capable of feeding themselves. Instead, they must quickly find a female to attach themselves to, or die. After attaching, their circulatory systems merge and she provides him with sustenance, while he provides her with sperm.
White-fronted parrot
Have you ever had a really bad kiss? Well, hopefully your experience wasn't as bad as it is for a female white-fronted parrot.
Courting begins innocently enough for these parrots. In fact, they display one of the few known cases of mouth-to-mouth kissing in the animal world. (Awww, parrots kissing.) But for the male parrot, slipping the tongue isn't enough. After making out for a while, the male becomes sufficiently aroused, prompting them to vomit straight into their lover's mouth. (Ewww, parrots kissing!) Lucky for male parrots, females typically accept this "gift" as a sign of intimacy.
Frigatebird
This bird is a romantic at heart. And throat. Just take a look at their mating call: they inflate their throats into a bright red, heart-shaped balloon, like some kind of self-contained Hallmark greeting. Meanwhile, the female seeks out the biggest and brightest balloon, the owner of which earns her. And then while the two go at it, the male will shield her eyes with his wings so she won’t be tempted to run off with some better balloon-owner. This sort of jealousy and and competitiveness is incredibly human-like, only instead of balloons, it’s expensive cars, spiky hair and spray-tans.
Dolphin
The male dolphin is one randy bastard. It’ll essentially hump-back anything it can get its fins on, including inanimate objects and sea turtles. Furthermore, the dolphin’s swivelly penis is actually capable of gripping things, making it a sort of exploratory apparatus. It can be said, then, with absolute certainty that a dolphin is truly guided by its penis. Although, they make terrible lovers (it only takes 12 seconds for them to release).
Brown Antechinus
The male of the species known as Antechinus Stuartii is so into sex, he will copulate until he rolls over and dies. During mating season, this little Australian marsupial pretty much drops everything in his life to have sex with as many females as possible. There's no time to eat or apply some kind of soothing cream to any rubbed-raw body parts as he will spend up to 12 hours at a time banging one female.So at least he's leaving them satisfied--maybe not conscious, but satisfied.And when he's done, it's on to another female. By the time mating season has ended, the constant stress of being a rodent-sized Wilt Chamberlain leaves the little bugger with a suppressed immune system, severe ulcers and at the mercy of parasites. He, and every other male who goes through the mating season, will then die.
Earwigs
You aren't half the man this earwig is. And by that, we mean earwigs have two dicks.Though some species only have one and are mocked horribly at earwig urinals, the ones with two tend to have a preference in use, meaning they're either right weinered or left weinered.Because the earwig's wang is delicate like fine china, if it snaps off they just switch over to the other one and go about their business. So far, scientists are unable to tell if a right weinered earwig that has to use his left shoots off with all the girly-throwing power you'd expect.
Asexual reproduction
Komodo dragons can reproduce through self-fertilization
"The tests on the embryos and on Flora, her sister and other dragons confirmed that Komodo dragons can reproduce through self-fertilization." …
"Flora, a pregnant Komodo dragon living in a British zoo, she has never mated, or even mixed, with a male dragon, and fertilized all the eggs herself, a process culminating in parthenogenesis, or virgin birth. Other lizards do this, but scientists only recently found that Komodo dragons do too.” … this was the first time it has been shown in Komodo dragons — the world’s largest lizards.
Budding
is a form of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. The new organism remains attached as it grows, separating from the parent organism only when it is mature, leaving behind scar tissue. Since the reproduction is asexual, the newly created organism is a clone and is genetically identical to the parent organism.Internal budding or endodyogeny is a process of asexual reproduction, favoured by parasites such as Toxoplasma gondii. It involves an unusual process in which two daughter cells are produced inside a mother cell, which is then consumed by the offspring prior to their separation.
Sponges exhibit a form of asexual reproduction that relies on the production of gemmules or internal buds. In this form of asexual reproduction, a parent releases a specialized mass of cells that can develop into offspring.
Planarians
There are sexual and asexual planaria. Sexual planaria are hermaphrodites, possessing both testicles and ovaries. Thus, one of their gametes will combine with the gamete of another planarian. Each planarian transports its excretion to the other planarian, giving and receiving sperm. Eggs develop inside the body and are shed in capsules. Weeks later, the eggs hatch and grow into adults. Sexual reproduction is desirable because it enhances the survival of the species by increasing the level of genetic diversity. In asexual reproduction, the planarian detaches its tail end and each half regrows the lost parts by regeneration, allowing neoblasts (adult stem cells) to divide and differentiate, thus resulting in two worms. Some species of planaria are exclusively asexual, whereas some can reproduce both sexually and asexually.
Planarians exhibit a form of asexual reproduction known as fragmentation. In this form of asexual reproduction, the body of the parent breaks into distinct pieces, each of which can produce an offspring.
Parthenogenesis
This type of reproduction involves the development of an egg that has not been fertilized into an individual.Animals like most kinds of wasps, bees, and ants that have no sex chromosomes reproduce by this process. Some reptiles and fish are also capable of reproducing in this manner.
Greenflies clone themselves once every 20 minutes. Whiptail lizards, Aphids, some bees wasps and hornets, some fish and water fleas reproduce by parthenogenesis.
Komodo Dragons, some sharks, some snails do as well.
Regeneration
In regeneration, if a piece of a parent is detached, it can grow and develop into a completely new individual. Echinoderms exhibit this type of reproduction.
Organisms such as hydra use regenerative cells for reproduction in the process of budding. In hydra, a bud develops as an outgrowth due to repeated cell division at one specific site. These buds develop into tiny individuals and when fully mature, detach from the parent body and become new independent individuals.
Echinoderms exhibit a form of asexual reproduction known as regeneration. In this form of asexual reproduction, if a piece of a parent becomes detached, it can grow and develop into a completely new individual.
https://www.boundless.com/biology/animal-reproduction-and-development/reproduction-methods/sexual-and-asexual-reproduction/
Asexual reproduction includes fission, budding, fragmentation, and parthenogenesis, while sexual reproduction is achieved through the combination of reproductive cells from two individuals.
The ability of a species to reproduce through fragmentation depends on the size of part that breaks off, while in binary fission, an individual splits off and forms two individuals of the same size.
Budding may lead to the production of a completely new adult that forms away from the original body or may remain attached to the original body.
Observed in invertebrates and some vertebrates, parthenogenesis produce offspring that may be either haploid or diploid.
Sexual reproduction, the production of an offspring with a new combination of genes, may also involve hermaphroditism in which an organism can self-fertilize or mate with another individual of the same species.
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