When you’re facing extinction, cultural mores will probably go out the window. What was once taboo is now a petty indulgence. Might as well make the most of your final days. I bet that’s exactly what was going through the minds of some endangered New Caledonian leopard sharks who were caught on film in the midst of a three-way.
It was the first time scientists had ever captured a full leopard shark mating sequence in the wild, and it just so happened to be a superhot threesome between two males and one female.
Marine biologist Hugo Lassauce of the University of the Sunshine Coast had been monitoring the sharks for years, hoping to catch them mating. Not because he’s a perv, but in the name of science.
One day, while surveying a group on the seafloor, he saw it: a female pinned between two males, each taking roughly a minute to get the job done before collapsing in exhaustion on the ocean floor. The whole thing was over in under two minutes. Yet another example of how porn isn’t reality.
Scientists Caught Endangered Sharks in a Rare Three-Way
They were Leopard sharks, though technically their name is Stegostoma tigrinum… which were formerly known as zebra sharks due to their juvenile stripes. It’s a bit messy, so let’s leave it at leopard sharks.
Before all this, they were already known for having unusual sex lives. They can reproduce sexually, but the females can also reproduce asexually, through a process called parthenogenesis, when there are no males around. You probably heard the esteemed paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant’s thoughts on the subject in the documentary Jurassic Park.
The footage proves that while females can get along fine without a male, they are also more than happy to take on all comers. Interpret the usage of that last word as you see fit. This has the benefit of potentially boosting the depth and breadth of the gene pool of a species whose status as endangered implies that they can definitely benefit from an increase in their genetic diversity.
It’s also getting researchers some more insight into how female sharks store sperm. Some of them can stash sperm inside of them for months or even years before deciding to crack open the internal supply closet to make a baby on their terms and on their own time.
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