This book accompanies the Discovery Channel TV series. Considers many aspects of sex in the natural world, from courtship, copulation, & conception to family life & the issue of who is going to look after the baby. Bizarre & dramatic behavior, both in courtship displays & in the intricate mechanisms of fertilization, are described in detail & illustrated with spectacular color photos. Parenting, from lone mothers to babysitting fathers, & the relationship between the genders in gregarious animal groups & among social insects are also discussed. Finally the book considers one of the great unanswered questions of biology: why should there be such a wasteful, stressful, & sometimes lethal activity as sex in the first place?