Pig in a Poke

It’s an old, old joke. How do porcupines mate? Very, very carefully, the punch line goes. Researchers now report in the British journal New Scientist that indeed, that’s how they do it. And the quills are sex attractants, they say. According to a five-year study, female porcupines are turned on by particularly large males who win fights with other males. “After a fight the loser can have anywhere between 30 to 50 quills stuck in his face and chest,” one of the researchers said. “It must be extremely painful walking around with dozens of someone else’s quills stuck in your face.” (Reuters) ...Not to mention how terribly difficult it must be to stay “safe” when using condoms.