Hi Deep Look and KQED Science Fans, How far would you go for love? This week, we’re featuring four critters that have the strangest tiny romances. Male mantises have a VERY good reason to fear commitment – they could lose their heads! Barnacles may be stuck to rocks, but that doesn't stop them from hooking up with their neighbors. Male barnacles have the longest male reproductive organ of any animal … relative to their body size. Newts, on the other hand, can travel miles to mate in the pond where they were born. And earthworms cozy up with their mate inside tubes of their own slime and make cocoons full of baby worms. Check out these weird and wild romances in this week’s special video and newsletter for Valentine’s Day. Plus, get a behind-the-scenes peek at how I filmed newts getting busy.
Josh Cassidy, Deep Look lead producer and cinematographer
4 Tiny Romances That Are Almost Too Freaky to Share
Every time they attempt to mate, male mantises risk being eaten by females. Watch how praying mantises and three other tiny critters play the mating game in our special episode.
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Nick Heldfond heads into the water to surf at Ocean Beach in San Francisco on Feb. 10, 2025.
🤯Male praying mantises are known to lose their heads when it comes to getting a date. Even if they are decapitated while mating, though, they can still get the job done, passing on their genes and ensuring the next generation of mantises. 🐚Barnacles have a male reproductive organ that can be up to eight times their body size! Think about that the next time you're out tide-pooling. 🦎To prepare for mating underwater, California newts' bodies transform. Male newts bulk up and grow thick pads on their feet, which they use to hold on to a female. 💕The earthworms we feature in our video each have 4 or 5 pairs of hearts. They blow away the saying “two hearts are better than one!”
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Name That Critter!
This insect mates after sending and receiving vibrational signals from a potential partner. What is it? Find the answer at the bottom of this newsletter.
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Deep Look’s lead producer and cinematographer Josh Cassidy films newts mating in the Japanese pool at the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley, California.
“When it comes to filming newts, the most challenging part is to move carefully to keep from stepping on one of the amphibian movie stars. During their mating season, the newts are pretty single-minded, so they mostly seemed to not even notice me wading in their pool. I filmed them using a homemade contraption, attaching a piece of clear acrylic to the end of a plastic tube connected to my lens. By submerging the end of the tube, I was able to avoid the reflections on the surface of the water to film the action below.” -- Josh Cassidy Become a DEEP LOOK Patreon Member today and get more exclusive, behind-the-scenes stories from the Deep Look team!
We hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter. Thank you for subscribing! ❤️Happy Valentine's Day! KQED’s Deep Look and Science Teams❤️
ANSWER TO NAME THAT CRITTER
Lacewing! When a green lacewing is single and ready to mingle, it shakes its abdomen with such force that it causes vibrations on a leaf. Potential mates respond with their own shakes. See and hear their love vibrations up close in our video: Lacewing Bachelors Vibrate to Find a Valentine
