Sex on all fours

With orgies, twelve-hour mating rituals and oversexed mammals on the prowlu00a0-- Tarzan and Jane's rendezvous pales in comparison to the jungle's sizzle. Fiona Fernandez gives you a ringside view of kinky mating

Snow leopards, like the rest of the cat family, are active on what we naturalists like to call, 'Facebook sites' in the jungle. It involves urinating, which is followed by scrapping in an area that forms a part of their home range," says Dr Koustubh Sharma, Regional Field Biologist and Snow Leopard expert, about peculiar mating habits spotted in the jungle.

These jungle-styled Facebook sites have borrowed heavily from the urban social networking counterpart since the purpose is the same. "We assume that there are special points within a particular territory in the forest where individuals sense an attraction for their mate. The main purpose of these sites is to communicate between males and females, where the female species announces that she is ready to have a boyfriend!"

Oversexed, underwater
Male dolphins are known to have quite a sexual appetite. Often, they have been spotted trying to hump inanimate objects and unsuspecting sea turtles.

Singing foru00a0sex
The Snow Leopard
Natural habitat: Central Asia including the Himalayas that stretch across Tibet, Nepal, India and Bhutan
"During mating season, we hear strange wailing calls in the mountains. These translate into a kind of shrill cry, like a cat's cry, but much louder. It can get pretty high-pitched," says Dr Sharma about the snow leopard's mating call. Due to their elusive nature and the rugged habitat they live in, it's difficult to establish whether either male or female, or both engage in the singing ritual during mating, which extends from January to March.



I'll die for her
Brown Antichinus
Natural habitat: Eastern Australia
This mouse-looking marsupial spends up to 12 hours mating with the female before moving onto the next, and the next, until its immune system is suppressed, and he develops severe ulcers, gets infected by parasites and dies. Phew!



Group orgy specialist
Red-Sided Garter Snake
Natural habitat: Throughout North America
The annual mating of the Red-Sided Garter Snake is now a tourist attraction in places like Manitoba in Canada. After the female emerges from hibernation, she releases a pheromone (chemical secreted by an animal) that attracts hundreds of males in the vicinity, who rush to her and create a mating ball. During this ball, the male, who has two penises called hemipenes on each side of the body, will use the best-positioned penis to mate with the female who is in the centre of this mating ball.



Throw up on love
The white Fronted Parrot
Natural habitat: Mexico through Costa Rica
White-fronted parrots indulge in some serious kissing. It's been widely documented, despite the beak encounters. But what takes it to another level is that it's arguably one of the grossest rituals in the animal kingdom. The male initiates mating by locking beaks with the female. He then vomits in her mouth. She's fine with the overture because it's his way of showing how much he likes her by regurgitating a yummy nibble into her mouth!



Size matters, big time!
The Slug
Natural habitat: Gardens, parks, tropical forests; slugs can live in any damp environment
It's not a man's world for these guys. During mating, the male's penis grows so large, he must find a female of comparable size. Or else, he stands the embarrassment of having it bitten off. Being hermaphrodites, they sometimes bite off the partner's sexual organ, forcing them to take on the female role in mating. This practice is known as apophallation.



Not such au00a0piss offu00a0u00a0
The Giraffe
Natural habitat: Savannah, Africa
Mating must be hard work for the men here. When the male chances upon a female, he performs the Fleshmen Sequence to figure if she's the one for him. The first bit involves nudging her rump to induce urination. Post this, he takes in a mouthful of her urine. If it tastes good, he begins to court her.



Once-in-a-lifetime Rendezvous
The octopus
Natural habitat: Found in every ocean of the world With eight arms, the male octopus uses one particular arm (usually the third one on the right) as the sexual organ for transferring sperm into the the female. Octopuses mate only once in their lifetime, and during the ritual, the sexual organ breaks off. Although it grows back the next season, after mating, the male octopus gets lazy, stops eating and tends to die.