The sex lives of animals: three hours of foreplay - and mass orgies on the move

New research has revealed the extraordinary mating habits of serotine bats. They are far from the only creatures to take an unexpected approach to intercourseOn a dark November afternoon at Southampton's City Farm, the animals are going about their business. They are all rescues. Penny the pig, a clutch of former battery farm chickens, three pygmy goats and Salvatore the cane snake, so orange and shiny he looks as though he is glowing from within as he twines around my arm in loving, even sensual embrace.All little miracles in their own right. But none so strange as the dull-looking brown shells in the glass tank in the corner. "Who's that in there?" I ask Hannah, in whose charge they lie. "They're African land snails", she tells me. "They've just laid their eggs. They were both females, but being hermaphrodites, one changed sex. It was quite a surprise." Continue reading...