Wild Sex

The Science Behind Mating in the Animal Kingdom

By: Dr. Carin Bondar

Narrated by: Erin Bennett

Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

A brilliantly engaging guide to the reproductive habits of creatures great and small, based on the author's popular web series Wild Sex, which has received over 14 million views.

Birds do it, bees do it - every member of the animal kingdom does it, from fruit flies to blue whales. But if you think humans have a tough time dating, try having to do it while being hunted down by predators against a backdrop of unpredictable and life-threatening conditions. The animal kingdom is a wild place - and it's got mating habits to match. The sex lives of our animal cousins are fiendishly difficult, infinitely varied, often incredibly violent - and absolutely fascinating.

In Wild Sex, Dr. Carin Bondar takes listeners on an enthralling tour of the animal kingdom as she explores the diverse world of sex in the wild. She looks at the evolution of sexual organs (and how they've shaped social hierarchies), tactics of seduction, and the mechanics of sex. She investigates a wide range of topics, from whether animals experience pleasure from sex to what happens when females hold the reproductive power. Along the way she encounters razor-sharp penises, murderous carnal cannibals, and spontaneous chemical warfare in an epic battle between the sexes.

The resulting book is titillating, exhilarating, amusing, petrifying, alluring - and absolutely guaranteed to make you think about sex in a whole new way.

©2016 Dr. Carin Bondar (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Variety over depth

I thought the book was well done. I really enjoyed how the author broke sex down into three main parts (meeting, sex, child raising). What I did not enjoy was only one to three examples of animals were given when describing a behavior with in the three parts. Overall good but because of its wide coverage less examples are given.

NOT "wild and crazy" :-)

(Posted as GoodReads review)
I learned so much from this book – unexpected things, even. For instance, the question of virginity is actually meaningful for some species, unlike people!
The title, _Wild Sex_, does not refer to unbridled, anything goes, sex. It's sex of wild animals in the wild. Some animals do amazing things to "get their rocks off". But seriously, it is clear that the purpose of the whole thing is to spread the genes and DNA of the individual! The violence and jealousy and rivalry all have the same source. I think that I have come out with a more general understanding of the motivations of other types of animals. And I can definitely see the source of a lot of human activities and hangups. And I can see where a lot of religious hangups come from, although I doubt that any religious person will see it that way!
Worthwhile investment of time :-)

Misses the Mark

Text is dull. Terms are ill defined. Writing level is too high for the audience.

wild sex

very interesting and informative I'm glad I was able to listen to it as opposed to reading it because she adds a lot of the scientific classifications of the animals and my Latin is not very good

Basically just trivia

The narrator's voice was more pleasing in this compared to some of the narrators from similar titles. However, a few chapters in and I realized this book is basically trivia organized in paragraphs. Normally I'm into books like this because the author provides thoughtful commentary about the trivia, but sadly that was not the case with this book.

Slurs and anti-trans words used throughout

This book had a great opportunity to point out that sexuality and gender are extremely fluid throughout the animal kingdom, and apply that to our species as an appeal to tolerance. In fact the author does say explicitly in reference to homosexuality that it’s a biologically natural and common in the natural world.
However in an attempt to be “cutesy” or use less scientific language words like “shemale” and “transvestite” and “cross-dressing” are used throughout in reference to animal behavior.
It’s a disappointment to say the least. It could have been a great chance to show how artificial the concepts of rigid gender roles are and how common in the natural world various trans identities are, but failed in a big way.
...Also wtf about elephants?! She says “it’s not much fun” to be a make elephant because a female elephant has a penis-like structure that has to be voluntarily moved out of the way, making it “impossible to rape a female elephant.” While calling animal behavior “rape” when they can’t communicate their intent or experience is a little bit of an issue, that was a really stupid, insensitive and misogynistic statement. ...Poor male elephants, female elephants can’t be raped.
The authors use of these cute asides ruined an otherwise interesting book and was really disappointing.