Three New Books Explore the Weird and Wonderful Science of Animal Sex

Three recent books—Lixing Sun's "On the Origin of Sex," Nathan H. Lents's "The Sexual Evolution," and Perrin Roosevelt Ireland's "Poking the Squid"—survey the astonishing diversity of animal mating strategies, challenging traditional views of sex, gender, and natural behavior. Sun, a biologist at Central Washington University, traces the evolution from protozoan conjugation to the divide between sperm and egg, highlighting species like the split-gill mushroom with 23,328 mating types. Lents, a biologist at John Jay College, uses examples such as clown fish sex change and bluegill sunfish with four genders to argue that human sexual fluidity is a biological throwback. Ireland, an artist and environmentalist, focuses on female agency and same-sex behavior, citing research showing 80% of long-term studied mammal species engage in same-sex behavior. All three authors critique the use of nature to police human sexuality, though the books do not resolve Darwin's fundamental question of why sex exists at all.