Field of Science

Biology and Law in Florida

Here are a couple of shocks for the good people of Florida: 1. Humans are animals. 2. A new statute would make sex with animals illegal. Although probably intended to outlaw beastiality, this statute is one of those things that makes you wonder why anyone would think this issue important enough that a legislature would spend anytime on it at all, but from the biological perspective, the statute outlaws sex altogether. You see forbidding "sex with animals" includes the object of your affections, whatever animal species. Is there any problem with having sex with fruits? Is there a term for that? OK, best not go there. This statute reminds me of some old legal attempts to prohibit people from making moonshine by forbidding fermenting "seeds" (cereal grains), which of course makes beer, while allowing fruit fermentation to make wine. So when a guy gets arrested for making "corn wine" he trots out his botany book and there in black and white it says a cereal grain is a caryopsis, a one-seeded fruit. Oops! Stupid legal animals; should have asked a biologist!

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