Today’s Solutions: October 18, 2026

When insects skip the light fandango their romantic foreplay often involves some pretty crazy things like hypnotic dance moves and flashy colors. In some species it ends with a complex ejaculate package that does more than fertilize offspring. In the case of butterflies, the cabbage white Pieris rapae in particular, scientists have found male butterfly ejaculate—a complex package designed to deliver sperm—also contains a dose of valuable life-extending nutrients that female butterflies devour like candy.

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