Animals do some crazy stuff to get a mate.
Let's talk about that.
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- Good Mythical Morning! - Valentine's Day is less than a week
away, and that means not only have we beautified the set with hearts and love
- things,... - And red stuff.
...but we're going to be focusing all week on love and relationships. Every episode
has something to do with love and relationships.
- Love Week. - And don't worry: if you're not in a
relationship, maybe by the end of this week, you'll be happy that you're not in a
- relationship. Love gets weird. - Welcome to Love Week. No matter what
relational status you're in, you're welcome here.
- Please. - Today, we tackle the most bizarre mating
rituals in nature known to man. And don't panic! I am not gonna make this awkward if
you're watching this with your mom or your mother-in-law.
- Okay. - I'm focusing on the attraction phase,
- okay? Enticing a mate... - Alright. Not the next step.
- ...but not the next step. - Right.
So, you won't be seeing any of that. Even though I will be showing you some --...
- Okay! Sh. - ...some visual aids.
Okay, I didn't know what you were gonna -- I didn't know what was happening, I gave
- you the "shhh!" - (laughing) Oh, no.
(crew laughs) - Now, my buddy, Rhett, here...
- Hey buddy! - ...has successfully enticed a mate.
- Yeah, I did. - So now, I'm gonna -- but that was many
- years ago! - It was. Maybe I lost it.
- And you're not an animal. - Hold on, I'm not performing, am I?
You're not performing, you're not being tested, except in your knowledge of animal
- mating rituals. - Oh, I know a lot about that.
It's time to play:
Can Rhett Reckon If a Mating Ritual Is Real, or Is It Really a Resourceful Roose?
- Ruse. - (laughs)
- Ruse. - "Roose! Ruse."
It should be "ruse." Not "roose." Okay, Rhett, so if you get five of these
- correct... - Oh!
...you win an amazing animal mating ritual ability. You will be granted the ability!
Like an instructional DVD? What are you talkin' about?
- I'm not going to tell you. - Okay.
- But, you want to win it, trust me. - I'm intrigued.
Let's get going with these, though. True or false? Did you know that male hooded
seals blow a pink skin bubble out of their noses? Then they shake it to make noise,
thereby attracting a female. It's like a bubble gum bubble coming out of a seal's
nose. And it's made out of skin, not bubble gum.
- Out of the nose? Out of the nose? - All the way out of the nose. Real ritual
- or ruse? - I feel like that could cause a lot of
trouble. I don't mean with what happens next; I mean I feel like it's just -- it's
- a trouble bubble! (crew laughs)
- False! Nature didn't make that! - Right off the bat, no.
(buzzer sound) - Aargh!
- It is real. Check it out! - Eww... Eugh! Whoa, shake, shake, shakin'
- it! He's shake, shake shakin' it! - That is a skin bubble.
- Out of the nostril? - And then he sucks it back in.
You know what? It is a little attractive.
And then he starts over. Or -- actually, we GIFed that.
I can see how the ladies would be into that.
Would you believe that a dude porcupine will stand on his hind legs and dance for
a female? Then, to seal the deal, he'll bust out his signature dance move: peeing
- on her. - Oh-ho-ho. Porcupines are into that, huh?
You know that signature dance move, "Peeing on a Porcupine?"
Yeah. There's a name for that. I'm not going to say it. Okay, uhm, I don't think
porcupines are dancers. I mean, I definitely know they pee on each other,
'cause what animal doesn't? But I think he'd have trouble dancing with the ol'
- pricklies. (laughs) (crew laughs)
I don't know, man. I feel weak. I feel like I'm not gonna be strong today.
- (laughs) - (laughing) Because I'm going to say that
that's not real, but I think you're gonna be like, "Watch 'em pee on each other
right here, Rhett!" I'm gonna say it's false 'cause I don't wanna see a video of
porcupines peein' on each other. Or do I?
- It is real. (buzzer sound)
- Aargh! (laughing) Gosh! - Check out this video! I'm not going to
show you peeing, but I'm going to show you the dancing part.
- Oh. What? - Look at that porcupine dancing!
He looks like he should be on a Mario game, and then you should like jump on him
- and he disappears. What in the world? - Alright, so you are off to a horrible
- start, Mr. Animal Kingdom Savant. - Yeah, I don't have a wife. I mean, I do
have a wife, but why do I have a wife? I don't deserve one...
- Well, she's human. - ...with this performance.
- I don't know how you got her. - I danced a lot.
What about this one? In the mating season, one thousand -- well, I meant to
say thousands -- thousands of female -- 'cause I don't have an exact number.
- The Dating Season 1000! - (laughs)
That's what I thought you were -- like some sort of -- okay, what is that?
- Let me start over. - Sign me up!
In mating seeding, thousand -- In. Mating. Season.
- Got it. - Thousands of female carrion beetles
gather in one huge patch on the forest floor. Males then kamikaze dive from the
tree limbs headlong into the gathering as a grand mating performance.
I'm going completely on just test logic at this point. You're not going to have three
true in a row. That's all I'm doing at this point.
- Okay. - Because I'm picturing these beetles, and
I'm confused. They're diving? "Carry-on?" You bring them on the plane with you?
- No, they climb trees and then dive. - Oh, they eat they dead things? "They eat
they dead things? Do they eat they dead things?"
- True or false? - False. This doesn't happen.
- That's true, it is false. (ding noise)
- It is a ruse. - (claps) Yeah! Even I can get things
- right. - Totally made up. Just going with test
- logic. - "Mate" up? Heheheh.
- Ha. - (laughs)
Real or ruse? Female norrow moles will dig a 15-foot deep hole in the ground...
- Yeah, they will. - ...and fill it with fruit to lure males
inside, and then if the male doesn't meet the female's standards, she exits and
- seals his body in the hole. - (laughs) They make a fruit hole, huh?
- He dies in the fruit hole, alone. - Men are typically not into fruit holes.
Ya know, that's something that -- Bath & Body Works, that's something that gets the
ladies excited. Fruity-smelling things. (laughing) I'm just kidding. I'm just
kidding. I'm not making generalizations, men like fruity things too, okay? Gosh!
Did I make this up or is this real? The blue norrow mole.
Then you get sealed in the fruit hole, which is great for a little bit and then
- you die. - You die. Right.
It's like being trapped in a big bag of gummy bears. Which is a dream of mine.
- Right. - And because of that, I'm going to say...
I'd love to suffocate you in one right about now.
...that this is false, Link. There is no such thing as a fruit hole.
- Right after the last one that was false? - You know what? You know what? I guess it
- must be true. - Is it true or false? Final answer.
- True. - No, it's false.
(buzzer noise) - Aargh! You --
- (laughs) - What? What? Dude, what? You made -- I
- knew the fruit hole was made up! - Well, you changed your answer. I also
made up the "norrow mole." That ain't even real!
- Oh. Really? - Nope, none of it's real! The anglerfish.
When a male anglerfish finds a female, it bites onto her belly, permanently. He
holds onto her forever. Forever. Until he dies. Dies.
(crew laughs) - True or false?
- Uhm, going off of... - You only got one right!
- ...some kind of TV special. - You really need to get all these right
- to get your mating ability. - Yeah, you shouldn't have thrown me off
on that last one. That was unfair. It wasn't very loving of you, on Love Week,
- to throw me a curve ball like that. - All of my love is towards my wife and
- children. - I feel like I've seen some version of
this on, like, a Discovery Channel thing, so I'm going to say, yeah, this happens.
- It is true. (ding noise)
- Yes! - And if you check out the picture, you
can see that little thing on top of the female anglerfish is a male that then just
becomes a sperm delivery device, and all of his other organs just -- go away.
(crew laughs) - Is he just a little guy and she's a big
girl, or is this just the way they all are?
He starts off bigger and then he goes away. He -- what's the word? Dissipates.
- That's quite a diet. - True or false...
- Probably not worth it. - ...after finding a suitable partner, two
white-fronted parrots will begin kissing.
- Oh, kissing parrots? - Then the male will vomit into the
- female's mouth. Mmmm, attraction! - Parrots don't kiss, they don't have
lips. Have you tried kissing with a beak before?
- Well, maybe I use the term loosely. - One time I put on a Big Bird outfit --
- just for Halloween -- and (laughs)... (crew laughs)
And tried to make out with what? What're you trying to kiss?
...beaks don't kiss well. That's all I'm gonna say about that. This is false.
- No, it's true! (buzzer noise)
- Golly, I lost! - Look at that bird vomiting into another
- bird's mouth! - That's not kissing! Well, I guess it is.
Yeah. Yeah, that's very involved vomit-kissing. Alright, Rhett. You still
- got things to learn here. - Mm. Okay.
To stake his claim to a harem of hundreds of female hippos, the dominant dude
- hippo -- - If I get these next two right, please
still give me the mating tips. What is it? I don't know what it is.
- I'll help you out. I'll help you out. - Okay.
The dude hippo will spin his tail like a propeller...
- They do that. - ...while pooping, spreading it
everywhere and saying, "You're all mine."
Now, hippos do the propeller poop thing; I know that they do that. I thought that
they do that to mark the territory, not to attract the females.
- But why d'you mark territory? - For females. No, because you -- I don't
know. I know that they do that, so would you have made up half of it?
- No, I wouldn't. - So, I'm going to say that it's false.
- (laughs) It's true. (buzzer noise)
- True. - It's true! It's true, that's why they do
- it. - I don't know if you're being -- True.
- True. Yes, they do that. - You can't change your answer after I
- give you the answer. Alright. - Oh, look at that. Oh.
- Oh, my goodness! - There it is.
- Yeah. - Going everywhere. Lookit, the females,
- they come a runnin'. - That's a bad Friday night. Oh, gosh.
A male Arabian camel spits a skin bubble --
Shouldn't have ordered that extra thing of nachos. (tongue trill) (laughs)
(laughing) A male Arabian camel spits a skin bubble out its mouth...
- Oh, skin bubble time, huh? - ...then makes a low gurgling sound.
- No way another animal has one of those. - Hello, ladies.
A camel has a skin bubble? I woulda seen that. Yeah, all my camel riding that I've
- done. I would have seen that. - (laughs) Yep!
Okay, there's nothing at stake, except my own pride, which has been completely
- smashed. So, I'm going to say... - Along with your mating ability.
...there's no way that there's another skin bubble. False.
- It's true. There is another skin bubble. (buzzer noise)
- Check it out, man! - What is up with you, nature? Oh, hold --
what? How come you don't know about this?
That's a skin bubble that he can throw out there and then retract back in when the
- ladies come a runnin'. - Why don't they put this on the Geico
- commercials? - Alright, Rhett, you didn't win, so I win
the mating ritual ability. Thanks for liking, commenting, subscribing, and
sharing this video with all animal lovers.
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Hold on, I need to put a hole in this speaker so it will fit. There we go,
- perfect. - Oh, wow. You're good with that.
Yeah, I'm just -- Oh, I'm making a lot of room! Right there.
- I think he's going to die. - No, no. He's doing just fine.