Odd Couples: Extraordinary Differences Between the Sexes in the Animal Kingdom

Humans are rather fascinated with gender differences. They'll sometimes turn to the animal world to describe certain of their own behaviors, e.g., describing strong mothers as "mama bears," mentioning rabbits in reference to promiscuity, or discussing swans in the context of monogamy. Through colorful descriptions, we imply that animals and humans, especially in gender roles, can be quite alike. Fairbairn shows us just a bit of the much greater complexity that exists in the natural world. She highlights seven examples of differences between the males and females of a species, ranging from the more familiar (elephant seals) to the unfamiliar (giant sea devils) to the downright creepy (bone-eating worms). Each chapter comes with a helpful subtitle, for example "Shell-Burrowing Barnacles: Sac-Like Females with Harems of Phallic Males." She begins her book with a general explanation of why sex differences exist at all and ends with a scholarly classification scheme of them.