David Attenborough strikes....

As this is the Year Of The Holiday I have a few planned. In August I am going on a girly walking holiday with...well, some girlies. We have been having email chats with regards to how we are going to manage the cooking. This prompted some talk of inviting Jamie (Oliver) and Gordon (Ramsey) (Chefs famous in the UK) on the holiday so they can cook for us. The subject was under discussion when D (he who previously has laboured under the label of 'The Divine') bravely stepped into the feminine fold with the following offering:

 

 

You can do as female mantids do - have both the male AND the meal.

A male mantid attracted by a female, creeps up behind her and when close enough leaps onto her, secures a perfect grip on her body, and copulates. No courtship. He has behaved “appropriately” for a male mantid. Yet if a male doesn’t behave appropriately, he may incite trouble. Positioning is everything.




A male that approaches a female from the front may meet immediate death by decapitation. If he sneaks up behind her but is just a little off on his grip, the female might bite off his head and dine on her brainless suitor as he continues to pass sperm into her body. Sometimes the impetuous female partially eats the male before he even mounts her. In this case, the headless wonder swings his legs around until his body touches hers, climbs onto her back, and copulates as though nothing were amiss.

 

 

Headless sex? Yes it's true! Copulatory movements in mantids are controlled by masses of nerve tissue in the abdomen rather than the brain. Males of some mantid species mate MORE EFFECTIVELY when decapitated. That's because a nerve centre in the male’s head inhibits mating until a female is clasped. If this nerve is removed (such as when the female bites off the male’s head!) all control is lost and the result is repeated copulation.

 

 

Sometimes the female devours her mate under circumstances outside the male’s control. If the pair is disturbed and the temperamental female becomes frightened, her immediate reaction is to whip around, snatch the male’s head in her greedy mandibles, and gnaw it off. In some species, a female’s propensity to consume her mate is unrelated to the male’s behavior or outside disturbance. It’s simply part of the mating ritual. And because she's a cow.

 

 

 

Does this help with your decision whether to allow males into the kitchen?