Wild Sex – National Geographic – Digital Video Broadcast

Wild Sex tells the amazing stories and bizarre behaviours that lie behind this universal urge and shows the extraordinary strategies animals use to ensure success in the highly competitive world of sex. For humans, sex is for pleasure, for the continuation of generations, and has served evolutionary purposes. Males and females of the animal world are out for their own benefit. They rely on peculiar sexual strategies to achieve their goals with the risk of violence or death often not very far away. Animals have to find a way around conflict, and seek to satisfy their need to procreate in any way they can. Homosexuality, incest, hermaphrodite sex orgies, and necrophilia, you name it—animals do it. Each episode explores a different aspect of sexual behaviour, from the belligerence of the dominant male and the cunning strategies of the female, to the concepts of group sex and sexual advertising. Wild Sex combines accurate science and informative images to deconstruct and explain the strategies and behaviours used in sex. It reveals the strange but true facts behind animal reproduction.Macho MalesThe dominant male is familiar to most of us: a certain type of man who always gets what he wants. And usually what he wants is sex. The female of the animal kingdom usually has the ability to choose who she has sex with, how many partners she entertains, and ultimately whose sperm her body will accept to father her young. Males have difficult obstacles to overcome in order to ensure their genetic survival. Aggression and violence are not uncommon in the animal world, but there are ways in which males have adapted to the challenges females impose. Evolution has lent a helping hand to many, so that chance is not the only factor in becoming a father. Witness how nature has enabled certain forms of sexual sabotage: male bed bugs for instance can inject their sperm into another male, so that when the latter mates, he’s actually using his attacker’s sperm. Macho Males uncovers the male’s penchant for aggression, and how his methods of courting and protecting females can be hostile, violent, and even fatal. Femme FatalesFemme Fatales debunks the belief that females are inherently gentle and passive. They can be ruthless when it comes to deciding who will father their young. Males are used and discarded, seen as just a step in a breeding experiment to find the best male specimen. Males are forced into raging battles, extreme physical marathons and bone breaking sexual Olympics. He may be seeking either pleasure or progeny, but neither is guaranteed. Nature’s femmes fatales are a presence to be reckoned with. The female Praying Mantis can and does eat her partner’s head. Although that doesn’t stop the male. His body takes over and he continues to service her, hoping for the smallest chance to continue his family line. Watch how these femmes fatales command the males of the animal world to obey their every whim. They push the males’ limits and comfort zones to extremes, sometimes with disastrous consequences. For the male, at least.SwingersSwingers exposes not only the rarity of monogamy in the animal world, but the proliferation of group sex. Animals also have needs, and if they are not fulfilled, they will often look to their neighbour for relief. Leave those old-fashioned ideas about commitment and loyalty behind, and journey into the exciting, enticing world of group sex, where the promiscuous thrive. Observe what it means truly to have sexual freedom in a world where other versions of divorce, adultery, and group orgies are daily events. Some male geese are known to entertain same sex partners, but when a female comes along, a ménage-a-trois can be a welcome experience. Animals will dance, sing, fight, and play homemaker in order to get noticed in such a promiscuous world. Although not all succeed, some animals will never make the cut, and never lose their virginity.LibidoHardwired desire, genetic continuation, and orgasm are among the many motivating factors that drive animals to great lengths in pursuit of sex. Meet sexual predators and their prey, kama sutra experts with sexual stamina that will impress event the fittest amongst us. A male bottlenose dolphin will cruise the ocean seeking satisfaction from other males as well as any other species willing to give him a helping hand. Libido drives animals to do the most amazing of things; singing, dancing, and fighting are among the many ways animals try to seal the deal, and get lucky. Libido uncovers the bizarre world of the sex drive, and discovers exactly what is driving the most primal urges on the planet.The Hard SellIf animals don’t advertise their sexuality through strength, they have to find other selling points. And millions do. The natural world is full of shameless self-promoters using sexual signals which work on every level, and attack every sense. In the Hard Sell meet some hardened campaigners who use every trick in the book to get what they want. From Mormon crickets who offer bogus meals of sperm, to beetles who advertise their sexual availability with elephant dung, to lemurs that rely on the allure of homemade stink bombs. It’s a steamy look at the currency of sex in the wild, and how sex is marketed, bartered, and sometimes even bought.