It must be Spring...

…because articles about wild sex are popping up all over the place. Carl Zimmer gets into the act with the story of love darts, a snail's way of tweaking its mate's endocrine system and doing a little kinky body piercing while they're at it. And if you're more interested in how arachnids do it with palpal specializations than molluscan harpoons, I've got an article on how spiders mate. I guess this is the time of year when an evolutionist's fancy turns to thoughts of exotic courtship rituals.

Zimmer also comments on that parental duty of telling one's children about the Facts of Life…it's hard to judge whether biologists are at an advantage or are handicapped in that regard. I have no problem telling my kids how sex works, but I fear I might sound more like a chapter from Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation than your usual American chordate.