by GUTCHUCKER » Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:30 am
Knowledge of the mating behaviour of other animals gives you a different perspective, which can make human mating behaviour more interesting in comparison. Consider that we can be attracted to such a variety of things - attitude, physical prowess, skill at mating, charm, conversational capability, knowledge and intelligence, etc. When we signal our desire for a relationship we can be subtle or glaringly obvious, depending on the language, body language and props we use, like flowers and subtly disguised animal products such as musk*. We've even surrounded our ourselves with myths and misconceptions on the matter.
Compare that to the mating dance of scorpions, or the drive-by fertilisation performed by squid with their dart-like spring-loaded sperm packages, the duplicitous colour-change communication of cuttlefish (pretending to be a female to go undercover and steal another cuttle's mate, signalling one thing on the left side of its body and another on its right) or the polarised hyperspectral luminescence mantis shrimps use to signal a potential mate.
I think perspective can make a lot of things more interesting.
*Does that get used as a gift? I'm not sure.
Knowledge of the mating behaviour of other animals gives you a different perspective, which can make human mating behaviour more interesting in comparison. Consider that we can be attracted to such a variety of things - attitude, physical prowess, skill at mating, charm, conversational capability, knowledge and intelligence, etc. When we signal our desire for a relationship we can be subtle or glaringly obvious, depending on the language, body language and props we use, like flowers and subtly disguised animal products such as musk*. We've even surrounded our ourselves with myths and misconceptions on the matter.
Compare that to the mating dance of scorpions, or the drive-by fertilisation performed by squid with their dart-like spring-loaded sperm packages, the duplicitous colour-change communication of cuttlefish (pretending to be a female to go undercover and steal another cuttle's mate, signalling one thing on the left side of its body and another on its right) or the polarised hyperspectral luminescence mantis shrimps use to signal a potential mate.
I think perspective can make a lot of things more interesting.
*[size=50]Does that get used as a gift? I'm not sure.[/size]