1. KIWI
Let’s start with New Zealand. While other birds lay many eggs, kiwi lays just one egg at a time. But the one egg is equivalent to 20% of her total body weight and almost half of her size.
That’s like an adult human carrying a 6-year-old baby in their belly. When the egg is stressfully laid, they still invest 70-80 days to incubate the egg. That’s about time 2 the time ostriches spend incubating.
2. VELVET SPIDER
A velvet spider only gives birth once and there’s a reason for it. She sacrifices herself via a process known as matriphagy. Some other spider species do this as well but not all of them. As soon as she lays or gives birth to an egg sac that contains her babies, her body starts to degrade gradually inside.
After about 30 days, the babies emerge from the egg sac. She will then regurgitate her inside which has become liquefied through degradation to feed the babies. She does this for about 9 days till she can’t no more. The babies, who would have become strong enough by then will descend on her to suck up the remaining part of her, leaving the exoskeleton only.
3. SHINGLEBACK LIZARDS
Female shinglebacks give birth to their babies alive. They usually give birth to two babies. The combined weight of the babies is about ⅓rd of her weight. That’s like a woman giving birth to an 8-year-old baby.
4. PORCUPINE
Of course, you know about their sharp quills. It protects them from predators. An adult porcupine is almost safe from all the big predators. They however don’t have it easy when giving birth.
Their babies are born with the quills already formed but they’re still very soft. It is after an hour or two that the quills begin to harden. Still, the mother experiences some pain. What may be worse is if the baby is facing the wrong direction while coming out during birth. The soft quills can still scratch through her birth canal as she pushes.
5. SPOTTED HYENAS
You should already know this by now but I will revise still. The female hyena gives birth through what we can call a penis. They have a unique reproductive system, in which they give birth through a pseudo-penis which is not so different from the male’s penis.
This is because they have highly masculinized genitalia, which is thought to be an adaptation for dominance and social status in their matriarchal society.
The pseudo-penis is an elongated clitoris that resembles a penis and is used for urination, mating, and giving birth. Just imagine how difficult, painful, and terrible it will feel. It is so bad that about 15% of first mothers die while giving birth.
One common question under this post is “How do hyenas mate, considering how strange the female genitalia is?”
Let’s go! Amongst hyenas, the female is the dominant sex and they typically control the mating process. The male approaches the female cautiously due to the potential for aggression. Yes, the female bullies the male most times.
Anyways, he sniffs and licks her genital region to assess her receptivity. All these while, he will be showing submissive behaviour to avoid being dealt with. When the female is receptive, she adopts a special posture to facilitate mating.
She stands still with her hind legs apart and lifts her tail to the side. She then retracts and inverts her elongated clitoris which looks like a penis.
This process involves her pulling the clitoral tube back into her body, creating an opening that allows for penile insertion. This inversion essentially turns the clitoris inside out, creating a functional vagina for copulation.
The male, upon sensing the female’s readiness through her postural and behavioral cues, mounts her from behind. He then attempts to align his penis with the opening created by the inverted clitoris. This step requires precision and often involves several adjustments and attempts.
The alignment of the male’s penis with the female’s pseudo-penis is difficult, leading to numerous failed attempts before successful mating occurs. The male often has to adjust his position multiple times.
Some males even fall due to exhaustion. If the male is lucky enough to achieve penetration, the mating act proceeds similarly to other mammals, with the male ejaculating into the female.
Thank you.
