It is a feature of most copulating species that they copulate the same way each time. A few diligent researchers have observed monkeys and apes copulating 2 face-to-face, an uncommon position for non-human primates - but in general there is little or no variation in basic coital position. Insects of different species, however, mate in many different ways. The male may effectively lie along the female, or the female may be uppermost. In some insect copulations one partner may be above but the genitals may curve under and make contact from beneath the other partner. In yet other instances the two insects may lie in opposite directions with only the genital region in contact.