6 ms·

Do animals masturbate?

10 points by peter123 17y ago

frossie 17y ago
For those who don't want to follow the article: It doesn't ask the question (because the answer is obviously yes, as some dog owners can testify). It asks the more interesting question of why the behaviour evolved and why is it so widespread even in species that don't obviously experience sexual climax. I am hoping the mental image of the walrus will pass though...
- bpb 17y ago
  Surely the answer as to why it evolved is obvious - it takes more energy during development (and a lot of selective pressure during evolution) to make a reproductive system that produces pleasure only during reproductive sex acts than one that can produce pleasure in non-reproductive situations. Hence, masturbation exists. I love the statistic that male Macaques spend 1-6% of their metabolism on production of ejaculate though.
  - KiwiNige 17y ago
    In the book The Human Zoo, Desmond Morris states that you see very little masturbation or other weird sex in wild animals, but you often see it in zoos and other captive/domesticated animals. He puts it down to dealing with being in an unnatural environment and makes parallels with people living in cities.
  - anamax 17y ago
    > Surely the answer as to why it evolved is obvious One of the recent results in human fertility is that daily ejaculation results in healthier sperm and greater fertility. Causality is rarely simple.
    - lyso 17y ago
      > daily ejaculation results in healthier sperm and greater fertility. Causality is rarely simple. Sure, but I think here you are being overly adaptionist. Put another way, if we lived in a world where daily ejaculation did not improve sperm quality, would we still expect animals to masturbate? I would say yes. It's just occurred to be that was in fact answered by the comedian, Jasper Carrott: Q: Why do dogs lick their bollocks? A: Because they can.
      - anamax 17y ago
        > Put another way, if we lived in a world where daily ejaculation did not improve sperm quality, would we still expect animals to masturbate? I would say yes. We probably do live in such a world. The "sperm quality" issue probably doesn't come up with animals that spawn at a given time of year. Note that "sperm quality improves with masturbation" is a partial explanation for why masturbation is pleasurable for those species who do.
quoderat 17y ago
The more important question is, does Animal from The Muppet Show masturbate?
DanielBMarkham 17y ago
The article says turtles masturbate. But I'm not even sure how you'd really know something like that. It's not like I've ever seen an excited turtle, much less a really, really happy one. I mean, not to get too explicit, but if I saw a turtle shifting slowly back and forth on a rock, I'd think confused turtle. Not necessarily the other thing.
- icey 17y ago
  Turtles and tortoises make a noise that will tell you quite definitively what's going on. It's tough to describe this tactfully, but some tortoises at the zoo here were feeling particularly amorous one day and you could hear them from a quarter mile away. Watching the parents try to explain to their kids what was going on was good for a laugh though.
deleted 17y ago
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10 points by peter123 17y ago

For those who don't want to follow the article: It doesn't ask the question (because the answer is obviously yes, as some dog owners can testify). It asks the more interesting question of why the behaviour evolved and why is it so widespread even in species that don't obviously experience sexual climax. I am hoping the mental image of the walrus will pass though...

bpb 17y ago
Surely the answer as to why it evolved is obvious - it takes more energy during development (and a lot of selective pressure during evolution) to make a reproductive system that produces pleasure only during reproductive sex acts than one that can produce pleasure in non-reproductive situations. Hence, masturbation exists. I love the statistic that male Macaques spend 1-6% of their metabolism on production of ejaculate though.
- KiwiNige 17y ago
  In the book The Human Zoo, Desmond Morris states that you see very little masturbation or other weird sex in wild animals, but you often see it in zoos and other captive/domesticated animals. He puts it down to dealing with being in an unnatural environment and makes parallels with people living in cities.
- anamax 17y ago
  > Surely the answer as to why it evolved is obvious One of the recent results in human fertility is that daily ejaculation results in healthier sperm and greater fertility. Causality is rarely simple.
  - lyso 17y ago
    > daily ejaculation results in healthier sperm and greater fertility. Causality is rarely simple. Sure, but I think here you are being overly adaptionist. Put another way, if we lived in a world where daily ejaculation did not improve sperm quality, would we still expect animals to masturbate? I would say yes. It's just occurred to be that was in fact answered by the comedian, Jasper Carrott: Q: Why do dogs lick their bollocks? A: Because they can.
    - anamax 17y ago
      > Put another way, if we lived in a world where daily ejaculation did not improve sperm quality, would we still expect animals to masturbate? I would say yes. We probably do live in such a world. The "sperm quality" issue probably doesn't come up with animals that spawn at a given time of year. Note that "sperm quality improves with masturbation" is a partial explanation for why masturbation is pleasurable for those species who do.

quoderat 17y ago

The more important question is, does Animal from The Muppet Show masturbate?

DanielBMarkham 17y ago

The article says turtles masturbate. But I'm not even sure how you'd really know something like that. It's not like I've ever seen an excited turtle, much less a really, really happy one. I mean, not to get too explicit, but if I saw a turtle shifting slowly back and forth on a rock, I'd think confused turtle. Not necessarily the other thing.

icey 17y ago
Turtles and tortoises make a noise that will tell you quite definitively what's going on. It's tough to describe this tactfully, but some tortoises at the zoo here were feeling particularly amorous one day and you could hear them from a quarter mile away. Watching the parents try to explain to their kids what was going on was good for a laugh though.

deleted 17y ago

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