Do animals mate just to procreate, or, like most humans, is orgasm the goal? Do animals orgasm at all? If they do, is it similar to a human male where there is a refractory period after the orgasm?
As far as I know, there are two species other than humans which engage in sexual intercourse for recreational purposes: dolphins and bonobos. So I assume that these species must experience orgasm, otherwise there would be no reward for this behavior, and therefore no motivation to engage in it. But this is just speculation on my part.
This column of Cecil’s addresses some of your questions.
There is in fact only one animal on the planet that has sex for anything but recreational pruposes: humans. All other species have sex purely for recreation/pleasure.
Think about it, some humans have sex with the sole intention of conceiving children and are not primarily interested in pleasure. In contrast no other species is even capable of understanding the link between sex and procreation. The only motivation for these animals is recreation.
I have no idea where this myth that only three species engage in sex for recreation came from, but even a moments thought will show it’s untrue. Do you really believe that a dog, for example, is having sex because it understands that the act will result in pups? Of course not. The dogs are having sex because it feels goo to do so. They are motivated purely by recreational concerns.
So that answers part of the OP. No animals mate to procreate. They are totally incapable of linking sex with procreation so it’s ridiculous to suggest that their motivations for having sex might be procreation.
As for which animals have orgasms, as far as we can tell all male mammals have orgasms. Outside that group the physiological and psychological differences are too great to draw any firm conclusions. There was research done many years ago which showed that all female mammals tested, and there were about a dozen species, were capable of orgasm when manually manipulated but there was no evidence of orgasm being achieved during copulation outside the primates.
There is a refractory period after orgasm in all mammals that I know of, however that doesn’t always take the form of the loss of erection seen in humans nor is it necessarily as long as in humans. Many malls will copulate several times an hour and dozens of times a day.
Male or female? If you’ve ever seen farm animals mate, there is no question but that males orgasm. For females, read Cecil’s column (above).
It took me a while to figure out what people were talking about when they said “Humans, dolphins, and bonobos are the only species that engage in sex for fun,” but I think I finally understand. The original thinking was probably that these are the only three species that engage in sex just because they want to, without being driven to do so by instinct due to mating seasons or whatever.
I think people don’t seem to understand that most other animals, who mate during a specific mating season, are still doing it because they want to have fun. They just don’t have the desire until it’s fertility time.
What the myth seems to boil down to, if it’s at all true (and I could have sworn that other apes besides bonobos engaged in the type of sexual play that bonobos do, if not to the same degree) that humans, dolphins, and bonobos are the only species that engage in human-style sex, having sex to strengthen social bonds and whatnot. Since all of the named animals are highly intelligent and social creatures, it really isn’t surprising that they have figured out that sex is fun any time and can be used to strengthen friendships and whatnot within a group.
That’s my take on it, anyway.
So what all did Julie say about me?
Mating behavior is pretty strongly genetically influenced, so if a species is capable of having sex outside of a mating season, there has to be a pretty good reason for it.
Not really.
First off mating behaviour isn’t any more strongly genetically influenced than tree climbing, burrowing or any other behaviour. So long as the energy requirements and disease risk are low it’s no more selected for or against than any other behaviour.
Secondly most male mammals are able to have sex anytime. There are exceptions where it is the males that come in season and not the males but that’s rare. There’s no ‘reason’ for that aside from the fact that there is no reason not to be that way.
I once had to write 100 sentences as punishment in 7th grade science class for asking aloud if snails had orgasms.
TheyDO!
But, there is a lot of goo involved, and the orgassm is ohhhhhsoooooslow.
Well, there’s no question that male farm animals ejaculate. Whether this means they experience the big WHOOOOM!! of an orgasm is another matter.
You’ve never seen a dog humping somebody’s leg? I’m pretty sure that my leg has never been in season. But a dog would quite happily hump it, if allowed.
Isn’t that a dominance behaviour thing? Male dogs often hump each other but it doesn’t mean they are gay, they are trying to establish dominance.
Did you know that goats masturbate by licking their wee wees?
Gee, why… no!
I don’t believe that topic has ever arisen on these humble fora.
Do you have a cite?
I have personally witnessed this on a visit to the family farm! The goat licked and licked and white goo ensued. (I wonder why male dogs don’t seem to do this?) One of the stranger things I’ve seen on the farm… didn’t know if all male goats did this, or if this one had made a personal discovery.
Female dogs do it, too.
I had a friend whose dog used to enjoy himself to the fullest. Stains on the carpet. Yuck.
My grandpa used to raise pheasants. The farmer across from him had a herd of milking cattle. I used to see one female mount another on occasion. If she wasn’t getting off, then I don’t know what else the purpose would have been.
Sorry, thought it was a fact like dogs humping legs etc. I had to watch a friggin animal behaviour video in my undergraduate psych class, talk about not knowing where to put my adolescent eyes! (I’ll find one if I have to.)
Also had to watch the Johnson and Johnson video of a women having an orgasm - another major embarrassment. I guess you can weedle out the ones who will go on to be sex therapists or not.