SeeCalifornia.com

Nature can be so fascinating–and love can seem so cruel! AT California Academy of Sciences Animal Attraction exhibition, you get to see how strange life can be. Do you think you’re in love? Look out for fatal attraction! One example is the male Ceratioid anglerfish. He bites into the female, latches on and won’t let go. He’s much smaller than his mate but what happens is nothing less than bizarre! He hangs on until atrophy sets in and he becomes nothing more than a pair of gonads. This ensures that when the time is right, the female has one or more mates at the ready.

Photos above seen at Animal Attraction exhibit:

• LEFT: The Salmon pink birdeater spider is known to practice sexual cannibalism in which the female devours the male before, during or after copulation.
• MIDDLE: Banana slugs (UC Santa Cruz mascot) are simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning that each individual is male and female at the same time. They DO require a partner to mate, however.
• RIGHT: For the Coconut octopus sex becomes a tragic milestone. After mating, the female stops hunting in order to care for thousands of eggs, surviving just until they hatch.

See calacademy.org for more events and attractions such as the spooky, SuperNatural Halloween on October 26, 2013.