How Animals Are: What the Intimate Life of Insects, Birds, and Beasts Tells Us About Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ourselves

In this book, the reader will learn how the structure of reproductive organs is related to the evolutionary success of entire species and what unexpected role parasites and predators play in this. It is often these groups of living beings that become the driving force behind a real "arms race" between males and females, forcing the parties to invent increasingly sophisticated mating and defense tactics.
The author describes unexpected mating strategies in the living world: from female cannibalism in spiders to polyamory in birds and mammals, discusses scientists' experiments—from 3D scanning of genitals to observations of copulation in fruit flies. Menno Stilhuysen introduces readers to stories of discoveries about animal sexual behavior (from the 17th century to modern studies in Nature and Scientific American) and reflects on why nature varies the norms familiar to people: from producing thousands of sperm to hermaphrodites and asexual survival tactics.