Sex on the beach, as we’ve talked about before, isn’t great for your nether regions (you know about rug burn, imagine sand burn… in your vagina, ouch), but apparently it’s not just bad for your body, it might be bad for the Earth too.

Via The Conversation:

Sun, surf, sand, sea – and public sex with strangers. These five S’s are a key part of tourism in the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago west of Morocco. Unfortunately, what’s fun for humans can be bad for wildlife.

Our new research, released yesterday, found public sex – known as “cruising” – in the Canary Islands is leading to significant degradation of the Dunes of Maspalomas, one of Europe’s last naturally functioning transgressive dune fields (in other words, they move around).

These semi-vegetated and mobile dunes are one of the most popular sightseeing spots on Gran Canaria island, and are legally protected as a nature reserve. Unfortunately, they are being loved to death.

We studied almost 300 sex spots across the vegetated section of these dunes, and found damage to 10 plant species, including three endemic to dune areas.

Oh man, so your beach bound booty with a rando could be causing harm to the planet? Yikes! Time to take your hook ups inside, y’all!