Fun Factoids on Animal Sex

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Last night was the annual Planned Parenthood-sponsored “Summer Sex & Spirits” night at the Museum of Sex in New York, which I somehow have failed to visit until now. There was plenty of the expected—some porno flicks, some stylish anal plugs, even a hands-on display of rubber sex dolls with rubbery vaginal openings. But the real gem is the exhibit on the sex lives of animals. Here are a few highlights to share at your weekend BBQs. And Miriam, please chime in with any other fun animal sex factoids for this summer Friday.

Gay Giraffe Necking: An entire wall is dedicated to homosexuality in nature: lions humping, mane on mane; female bonobos practicing “G-G” (genito-genital) rubbing; and best of all, male giraffes “necking.” Apparently they’ll rub necks for up to an hour (here's a hot giraffe necking session set to cheesy music), culminating in the secretion of some sort of fluid that scientists assume to be semen. (Miriam, any idea why they'd be unsure? Seems easy enough to determine, no?)

Kinky Dolphins: A 3-D model of Amazon River dolphins shows the sweetly smiling darlings of the sea engaged in one of their favorite three kinds of sex. Not vaginal. Not anal. Blowhole!

The Female Penis: Perhaps most amazing was the female spotted hyena, whose vulva looks like testicles and clitoris like a penis, which gets erect when she’s excited. Realizing a childhood fantasy of mine, they pee standing up from their psuedopenis, and also, in a less enviable feat, give birth through it.

Update: Read Miriam's response, with her favorite strange sex facts about invertebrates, which I carelessly left off the list. (But I assure you, the museum included the spineless, too.)

Photograph by Anup Shah/Getty Images.