Nature's Nether Regions: What the Sex Lives of Bugs, Birds, and Beasts Tell Us About Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ourselves - Paperback

by Menno Schilthuizen (Author)

A tour of evolution's most inventive--and essential--creations: animal genitalia

Forget opposable thumbs and canine teeth: the largest anatomical differences between humans and chimps are found below the belt. In Nature's Nether Regions, ecologist and evolutionary biologist Menno Schilthuizen invites readers to discover the wondrous diversity of animalian reproductive organs. Schilthuizen packs this delightful read with astonishing scientific insights while maintaining an absorbing narrative style reminiscent of Mary Roach and Jerry Coyne. With illustrations throughout and vivid field anecdotes--among them laser surgery on a fruit fly's privates and a snail orgy--Nature's Nether Regions is a celebration of life in all shapes and sizes.

Author Biography

MENNO SCHILTHUIZEN is a research scientist at the National Museum of Natural History in Leiden, the Netherlands. He has written on ecology and evolution for Science, Natural History, and other publications.