How to Be a Better Human
How to Be a Better Human

Why should you care about animal sex? (w/ Perrin Ireland)

August 3, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The natural world is far queerer and more creative than we've been taught

Perrin Ireland spent years translating scientific journal papers into watercolor comics for the Natural Resources Defense Council before writing her new book, Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex. The book is exactly what it sounds like—a hand-drawn, watercolor exploration of how animals actually have sex, reproduce, and form relationships. And the picture that emerges is nothing like the tidy, moralizing version of "nature" that gets invoked in political debates about what is normal, natural, or acceptable.

Why the word "sex" doesn't mean what you think it means

Ireland opens her book with a quote from historian of science Beanes Veloci: "Sex is just about everything, and therefore also nearly nothing." That paradox became the central puzzle of her research. When she asked scientists what they meant by the word "sex," she got radically different answers depending on who she asked. Some defined it by which gamete an animal produces. Others by which chromosomes it carries. Still others by which animal contributes sperm during copulation. And many of those definitions broke down when applied to the actual animals they studied.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:06) **Host Introduction: Why Nature Isn't a Rulebook** - Chris Duffy opens the episode by recounting a conversation with a bonobo expert that shattered his assumptions about "natural" behavior, contrasting bonobo matriarchy and conflict-resolution with chimpanzee patriarchy and violence to argue that nature offers multiple models, not a single prescription.
  • 2 (01:10) **Guest Introduction: Perrin Ireland & The Sea Cucumber's Anus** - Chris introduces Perrin Ireland, author and illustrator of *Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex*, and plays a clip from her series "Thirsty Science" detailing the four functions of a sea cucumber's anus (second mouth, breathing, defense, housing a pearl fish).
  • 3 (08:04) **Perrin's Method: Watercolor Comics as Science Communication** - Perrin explains her background as a biology student who learned by drawing, and how she now uses watercolor comics to make complex scientific ideas accessible and pleasurable, even during a mass extinction.
  • 4 (11:14) **Why Animal Sex Matters: Sexual Genius & A Balm for Despair** - Perrin argues that animal sex reveals "life's genius at making more of itself," offering a "balmy salve for despair" during a mass extinction by reconnecting us with our "more than human kin."
  • 5 (13:08) **The Political Weapon of "Natural" & The Fallacy of Monogamy** - Perrin explains how the concept of "natural" is used politically, citing *March of the Penguins* as a film the evangelical right used to normalize monogamy, when in reality, at least a third of emperor penguin couples are same-sex and the divorce rate is 86%.
  • 6 (17:13) **What Does "Sex" Even Mean? A Word "Tuckered Out"** - Perrin explains that "sex" is a single word forced to do too much work, referring to behaviors, biology, life history, gamete production, chromosomes, and more, often in conflicting ways within the same scientific paper.
  • 7 (21:46) **Case Study: The Hyena's "Pseudo-Penis" & Scientific Confusion** - Perrin details how female spotted hyenas have an externalized clitoris that so baffled scientists they kept misidentifying males as females (until the "males" got pregnant), revealing a deep-seated scientific obsession with genitalia and gender essentialism.

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Show Notes

Perrin Ireland is an artist and environmentalist who draws science comics. She’s also the author of Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex. In this episode, Perrin discusses why learning about the kinky sex lives of animals is a form of biodiversity! From topics such as animal caregiving to how language tends to ascribe sexual characteristics onto non-objects, Perrin shares why openly talking about animal sex isn’t scandalous, but allows for better understanding of animal and human social organization.


Factcheck Notes


1. Reported estimates of same-sex pairings and divorce rates in penguins vary across species and populations. Some studies have found values similar to those mentioned here, although these should not be treated as general estimates.


2. Rostrum-to-genital interactions in dolphins have been interpreted in multiple ways. In addition to possible sexual functions, studies suggest they may facilitate the inspection of chemical cues, allowing dolphins to gather information such as identity or reproductive status. Therefore, describing this behavior solely as a form of oral sex may oversimplify its potential functions.


3. Although it has been suggested that dolphins may obtain information by listening to the echoes produced by another dolphin’s echolocation, there is currently insufficient evidence that dolphins can intentionally transmit complex 3D images or engage in "holographic communication". This remains mostly a speculative hypothesis rather than an established scientific theory.


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