Dr Ann Jones

Yeah, but he just goes off-road to get there.

You don't say.

The male has chemical receptors on the end of his adiagus.

That's his sperm delivery apparatus.

And he uses that to sort of sniff the insides of the female to see if any other male has already deposited sperm.

And if they have, he barely ejaculates at all.

He just, you know, stabs her a bit and gives it a cursory go.

There's no use wasting his energy, right?

Charming.

But the males sometimes have suspicious scarring on the side of their bodies too.

And it turns out they're inseminating each other.

Sex is weird and flexible and doesn't seem to follow any rules.

And the more I find out about it, the more it feels like this What The Ducks special series may never, ever end because sex just keeps on going.

Oh, settle down, Romeo.

I didn't mean you.

Sex just goes on and on and on.

That's despite being super costly to those who participate.

So let's head to the What the Duck Institute of Evolutionary Accounting for the annual cost of sex report to shareholders.

Ah, here's Kevin from accounting.

No, not really.