Death by sex

BY KIM ATIENZA

This Valentine season, here’s a story of great love in the middle of the sex act.

The male praying mantis makes a big sacrifice during an act of sex. Ultimately, he dies in what is probably the deadliest mating of all, according to an article in Smithsonian magazine.

This happens as the female of the praying mantis species is literally a man eater. 

For them, decapitating, then devouring, their partner is a great source of nutrition, thus boosting her ability to produce fertilized eggs. She’ll start with the head, because male mantises can actually keep at it for a while even without it.

In one documented case, a female ate her mate’s head before they got busy and he still did the deed.

As a male perishes, his abdomen spasms, pumping sperm into the partner and thus increasing the likelihood of mating success. When it’s all said and done, the female gobbles up her mate’s carcass, his lifeless body.

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According to the National Confectioners Association, around 65 per cent of Americans believe that the packaging of Valentine’s Day candies and chocolates should be red and pink. They are the colors of the season.

From site The Holiday Spot, we learn that girls during medieval times ate bizarre foods on St. Valentine’s Day to make them dream of their future husband.

Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentine’s Day candy box in the late 1800s. To this day, Cadbury is a favored chocolate candy brand worldwide.

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Send your questions on anything and everything to Kuya Kim through my Twitter account @kuyakim_atienza using #AlaminKayKuyaKim.