Now, 45 minutes sounds long until you consider the brown antechinus.

你可能會覺得 45 分鐘有點久，但當你看到寬足袋鼩的交配時間你就不會這麼覺得了。

For two weeks every mating season, a male will mate as much as physically possible.

為期兩周的交配期，公寬足袋鼩會盡可能地交配。

Sometimes having sex for up to 14 hours at a time, flitting from one female to the next.

有時可以一次長達 14 小時，一個接一個的跟母寬足袋鼩交配。

And all that testosterone revs up his stress hormone production into overdrive.

睪固酮會激發牠的男性荷爾蒙高漲。

That, in turn, crashes his immune system, making him extremely vulnerable to disease and infection.

因此，牠的免疫系統會被擊潰，造成牠容易得到疾病及被感染。

Oftentimes, he dies before his young are even born.

很多時候，牠會「英年早逝」。

Scientists call this kamikaze mating technique "suicidal reproduction."

科學家稱此神速的交配行為是「神風特攻隊的繁衍」。

It turns out that for many species, sex kills.

對許多物種來說，性行為和死亡是相關的。

Take the male honeybee. His primary job? Mate with the queen.

以雄蜂來說，牠的首要工作是？和蜂后交配。

But sadly for him, he only gets to mate once because during the act, his reproductive organs are ripped off and his testicles explode.

但悲慘的是，牠只能交配一次，因為交配時，牠的生殖器官會被抽離身體，睪丸破裂。

In the process, his semen shoots through her oviduct where she stores it for later use.

在這過程中，牠會在蜂后的輸卵管射精，蜂后會存起來日後使用。

Hey, at least it's a quick death, especially compared to some deep-sea anglerfish, like the triplewart seadevil.

起碼，早死早超生，這比起深海的琵琶魚好多了，例如密棘角鮟鱇。

This one's a female, and you see that tiny parasite on her side?

這隻是母的，還有你看到這一隻在牠旁邊的「小咖」嗎？

That's the male. It would be like if a human male only came up to a woman's ankle.

這隻其實是公的。感覺像是一個男生在女生的腳踝旁。

Instead of hunting for his own food, the male bites into the female, fusing his body with hers and living fusing his body with hers and living.

牠不自己獵食，牠嚙咬母魚的身體， 和牠的身體結合， 透過母體血液中的營養維生。

In return, he provides the one thing he has to offer: sperm.

做為回報，他提供一種東西，那就是精子。

But, there's a catch.

但是，這暗藏一個代價。

In the process, his body shrivels up. He loses his eyes, fins, and most internal organs until ultimately he becomes just a portable sperm bank for the female.

在交配過程，公的身體會萎縮，失去眼睛、魚鰭，還有大多的器官，最終公魚會變成母魚的行動精子銀行。

Fortunately, not all males have it that rough.

好消息是，並非所有的雄性動物都這麼坎坷。

The short-beaked echidna survives mating, but his sex life is anything but ordinary.

尖嘴針鼴鼠交配後仍然活著，但是牠的性生活就平淡了點。

He'll line up with around nine other males and follow a single female for up to a month during mating season.

交配時節，公的會和其他九隻一起跟著單身母針鼴鼠長達一個月。

But here's the interesting part.

有趣的是，

Females have a forked reproductive tract, but that doesn't deter the males because they have a four-headed penis.

母的有分岔的生殖系統，但公針鼴鼠並不會因此退卻，因為牠們的生殖器官有四個頭。

So during sex, the male alternates, swapping out spent pairs as each fires its semen.

交配時，公的會兩個兩個器官交換射精。

And that semen is supercharged.

精蟲真的是充滿精力。

Hundreds of sperm glom together into bundles which can swim faster than individual sperm, increasing their chance of fertilization.

上百隻精蟲集結勝過一隻精蟲， 增加受孕機會。

If that's not impressive enough, his penis reaches nearly a quarter of his body length when erect.

這還不夠，當牠的陰莖勃起時， 可以長達身體的四分之一長。

But that's nothing compared to a barnacle's.

這跟藤壺比起來，比上不足，比下有餘。

That little crustacean has proportionally the longest penis of any animal on Earth, spanning up to ten times his body size.

以比例來說，這種小甲殼類算是地球上有最長陰莖的動物了， 可達身體的十倍長。

That's like humans reaching the length of a bowling lane.

就像人類玩保齡球一般。

And the barnacle needs it because he can't move around very easily.

藤壺運用類似的道理，因為牠不易移動，

So he casts out his giant penis like a fishing line to find a mate.

所以牠丟出牠巨大的陰莖，如釣魚線般，找尋母藤壺。

It waves about in the current, reaching to touch and fertilize the female organs of its neighbor.

隨著洋流漂流，飄到鄰近的母體邊接觸後，並成功受孕。

Bee or barnacle, reproduction finds creative ways to continue on.

不管是蜜蜂或是藤壺，牠們都有各自不同的方式繁衍下去。