Ann Jones

It sounds wonderful, but not all ducks are like that.

In certain North American ducks, they have these really strong pair bonds between the mummy and the daddy, right?

But there are always more males in this duck population than there is females.

By having complex reproductive passages with pockets and swirls, the female duck can hold her tissues rigid.

She can tuck her butt under, and even though those males might ejaculate, she still has a chance to choose the paternity of her young.

And ducks are not the only ones who have developed this type of anatomical female cryptic choice.

If you needed a reason to study STEM, there you have it.

Using a beer keg to inflate a dolphin penis.

Diane Kelly is an anatomy expert who has dedicated large portions of her career to cutting up genitals, which makes it sound way more dodgy than it actually is.

She's at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and in this particular research, she took the reproductive tissues of the female and the male dolphin, beer-kegged the erection, and then inserted the male member into the female corpus.

Brace yourself, we are just about to ruin flipper reruns for you.

Ah, there's that music again.

Bottlenose dolphins do force copulation.

A group of males can gang up on a female and harass her endlessly until she gives in.

Key concept alert.

Sexual conflict is where the interests of the breeding parties do not align.

He wants bang.

She wants peace and quiet and to go to the toilet without having to take the whole family with her.

Sound familiar?

Yeah, it's startlingly analogous to the duck's internals.