Dr Ann Jones

Sex is weird.

And riddle me this.

And riddle me this.

Why is it that, as far as I know, every species that science has tested so far, there is a percentage of the little guys, the sperm, that are infertile?

Why is it that, as far as I know, every species that science has tested so far, there is a percentage of the little guys, the sperm, that are infertile?

They're just not up to the job.

They're just not up to the job.

And we're not just talking one or two.

And we're not just talking one or two.

We're talking hundreds of thousands of sperm each ejaculation.

We're talking hundreds of thousands of sperm each ejaculation.

Enter sperm sociability.

Enter sperm sociability.

You ask, what sort of friendship, what sort of mortal enemies are sperm making?

You ask, what sort of friendship, what sort of mortal enemies are sperm making?

Well, take the great diving beetle, Disticus marginalis, whose sperm each has one flat face and it enables them to pair up together flat faces and motor along with two tails propelling.

Well, take the great diving beetle, Disticus marginalis, whose sperm each has one flat face and it enables them to pair up together flat faces and motor along with two tails propelling.

The Norway rat sperm has hook-shaped heads, so they can group together like those dangling monkey toys, sort of, into mounds of hundreds, and they see their way forward through the female.

The Norway rat sperm has hook-shaped heads, so they can group together like those dangling monkey toys, sort of, into mounds of hundreds, and they see their way forward through the female.

The wood mouse sperm hooks one sperm to another and forms a sperm train.