News
Joe Vesey-Byrne
Nov 16, 2017
DEEP LOOK/YOUTUBE SCREENGRAB
Praying mantises are well known for being decapitated by their female lovers after sex - but this one didn't let a simple matter of losing his head get in the way of copulation.
On the YouTube channel Deep Look, a video about the praying mantis insect showed a male continuing to have sex, even after he lost his head.
Warning: The following content is NSFW if your W is populated by Praying Mantises.
As the narrator Lauren Sommer reacts to his decapitation, she notes that his body continues to move as he fertilises the female mantis.
It's like he's on autopilot. Like a zombi mating machine.
Or what most of us call - the dream
Sommer explains that the sex continues because his body is controlled by nerves in the abdomen, so losing a head makes little difference.
She adds that in a bizarre twist, it happens to be the case that male mantises who die in this way may father more eggs than the ones who survive.
The more you know.
More: 8-year-old, bullied for loving insects, gets published in entomology journal​
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