The Birds and the Bees
The term “The birds and the bees” is a common euphemism for human sexual relations. It is kind of odd since humans do not have sex in quite the same way as birds and certainly not at all in the same way as bees.
The funny thing is I suspect even children know more about how humans have sex than they do about how the birds and the bees do “it”.
Let us start by looking at birds. Most birds species are monogamous, even if only for a year. This means they stay with one mate for that season, some birds are monogamous for life. Being in this kind of relationship usually means both will care for their young thus increasing their survival.
However to back it up a bit, first they have to find a mate.
A pair of Oystercatchers, he looks happy!
Typically there is some sort of ritual, even in birds who mate for life. These are called courtship displays, and are usually preformed by the male as a way to show how attractive he is, or how nice he sounds. As such these rituals usually involve sight and sound. Humming birds have a very frightening display where the male flies up and dive bombs the female at full speed, diverting his course only inches from her head. Of course many of us are familiar with the display of the peacock or the song of the male canary.
Most birds become more sexually active in the spring when the amount of sunlight they receive sends signals to their brains that it is time to reproduce. This assures that their young are hatched in good weather, incubation periods vary from species to species. Some birds mate on the ground and others in trees.
A pair of House Sparrows.
Let’s talk chicken. When you buy your eggs from the store they are never going to hatch, they were never fertilized by a rooster. Female hens produce eggs within their body daily, usually they lay an egg 24 hours after fertilization. The rooster has a different shaped organ, called a cloaca, with a glob of sperm on it, and his job is to press this glob against the vent, or cloaca, of the hen. The sperm can live inside the hen for several days, thus fertilizing several eggs.
Yup, that is chickens, well a hen and a rooster really
On to the bees. Male bees generally only have one purpose, basically they live to have sex. There are several species of bees, but for most sex is the same. It happens in mid air as a female mates with more than one male. The female gathers all the sperm she will need for her lifetime. Mating occurs when the male bee inserts his endophallus, or sex organ, into the female, in the case of honey bees this results in the death of the male a short time later, as the endophallus stays in the female and he cannot live without it. In other bees the males can survive to mate with multiple females.
A beautiful picture of a romantic bee couple. Interesting because bees usually mate in flight.
A weird fact about bee reproduction is that fertilized eggs develop into females and unfertilized eggs develop into males. The mother has the choice to fertilize an egg with the sperm she has gathered, or not. She can also produce males without ever breeding in the first place, although I suspect this is not what your mother had in mind when she discussed the “Birds and the Bees” with you.
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29 Responses to “The Birds and the Bees”
On September 10, 2008 at 9:44 am
Cool article! Naughty but nice!
On September 10, 2008 at 10:43 am
What a great article…….and I agree it was a bit naughty..LOL
On September 10, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Very informative. I have learned something new and useful today.
On September 11, 2008 at 1:48 am
I’ve now learned more than I ever thought I would about the birds and the bees.
On September 11, 2008 at 2:55 am
Very informative! Not naughty at all.
On September 11, 2008 at 6:36 am
Awesome article! Informative, naughty, and fun to read…
Icy
On September 11, 2008 at 7:16 am
Very entertaining yet informative article.
On September 12, 2008 at 12:48 am
Great article and I also must agree that this was a little bit naughty, but nice to read.
God Bless,
Nelson Doyle
On September 12, 2008 at 4:02 am
cool stuff,with nice photo,
On September 13, 2008 at 5:41 pm
cool article, i wish i knew how to add pictures. Every time i do my work gets rejected.
On September 14, 2008 at 6:18 pm
This is a very well written article!
On September 15, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Cool and delightfully naughty. Now we know!
On September 18, 2008 at 5:06 am
this was awesome.. settled an argument for me hahaha
thanks for that
On October 3, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Great article. It’s naughty and romantic at the same time.
On October 9, 2008 at 8:58 am
Also about EGGS – eggs you buy in grocey store are never going to hatch (for one reason I already mentioned – is that they come from chickens kept WITHOUT roosters presen) also because eggs have to be kept warm in order to survive.. when put in the grocery cooller or your fridge, any growth would stop even if it was a fertilized egg. So for either reason you cannot try to hatch the eggs you find in the store – it wont work. Also for both reasons you are not going to find a half formed chick in your egg when you crack it.
On November 19, 2008 at 6:03 am
If this article’s naughty then I should be concerned about my wildlife documentary obsession!
An interesting look at the birds and the bees.
On November 27, 2008 at 11:41 am
omg this article has helped answer so any questoins!!!! b4 i read this i thought that chickens were all unisex and fertilised them selves and eggs only turned into chickens if the mam chicken sat on it. thanks 4 informing me of the real way in which it works. i dont feel guilty eating eggs now xx
On November 27, 2008 at 11:42 am
omg this article has helped answer so any questoins!!!! b4 i read this i thought that chickens were all unisex and fertilised them selves and eggs only turned into chickens if the mam chicken sat on it. thanks 4 informing me of the real way in which it works. i dont feel guilty eating eggs now xx
On December 4, 2008 at 9:57 pm
dont worry
On December 29, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Really nice. I love it.
On January 2, 2009 at 2:21 am
in the birds pic, was the male on top?
On January 7, 2009 at 2:50 pm
yes, and in the bee picture too!
On February 1, 2009 at 10:21 pm
I came to this web site hopeing to find the true story of “the birds and the bees” I thought that there was a true story out there, a story that I thought my mom got all wrong when she told me. I guess I am wrong but I will keep on searching. I have a child about the age where I should be telling him about sexual intercourse and I am a little leary on how I should go about it. Is there someone that can give me some advice? Is there a true store of the birds and the bees?
Thanks,
Tony
On February 3, 2009 at 9:26 am
to tony #23
if you have kids – you know about sexual intercourse – just take it from there and be honest and open – the problems all started when parents were ashamed of the truth and referenced birds and bees instead of humans
On February 21, 2009 at 7:02 am
hi birds
On April 15, 2009 at 7:41 pm
omg that woul explain alot about the humming birds! i have this humming bird who dive bombs me when i go outside ad i thought it wa slike a territorial thing but now i get it hahaha!
On April 28, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I think that the reference to ‘the birds and the bees’ has to do with how they help flowers reproduce and not how they, themselves, reproduce. If taken in the context I have suggested, it would actually make sense why people associate it with human sexual relations and making babies.
On May 21, 2009 at 8:02 pm
ya Michelles right
On September 4, 2009 at 2:30 pm
To talk about the ‘birds and the bees’ there is a useful website that is very informative: http://www.noplacelikehome.org check it out, you’ll be glad you did.
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