By the last question, I mean, do only we grow our own food?
Some ants cultivate fungi for food.
And about the sex, actually, I would tend to think more that humans are the only species that doesn’t have sex just for pleasure. I mean, your typical animal isn’t thinking, “Hey, we better get procreating before we die out!”, the animal is just doing what comes naturally and feels good.
Some other species of ants herd aphids like cows, bringing them to food and protecting them from predators, in order to drink the honeydew the aphids produce.
Some other animals that have sex purely for pleasure (i.e., when procreation clearly is not even a possibility of their activity) include dolphins and benobo chimps. Both species engage in all sorts of sex play without regard to gender or age.
As someone who has been to the zoo and seen the mandrills,i can tell you that humans aren’t the only species to masturbate 
Chimpanzee’s masturabate with a high degree if frequency. They also eat their own barf and play with their feces.
As mentioned, Benobo’s actually use sex for other than pleasure/procreation they use it for settling arguments and other sorts of social interaction. If you watch them on NG or Discovery the females seem to offer themselves up quite regularly and easily. Too bad for them (or maybe good) that male chimps seem to last all of 5 seconds and thats without hyperbole.
Chimpanzee’s masturabate with a high degree of frequency. They also eat their own barf and play with their feces.
As mentioned, Benobo’s actually use sex for other than pleasure/procreation they use it for settling arguments and other sorts of social interaction. If you watch them on NG or Discovery the females seem to offer themselves up quite regularly and easily. Too bad for them (or maybe good) that male chimps seem to last all of 5 seconds and thats without hyperbole.
Well hey now,lets not draw any ties between the three.
:rolleyes:
It’s “bonobo.”
A better Question would be why do female humans have orgasms. For males, if it didn’t feel good - we wouldn’t do it. If we don’t do it the species would die out. But feeling good or not, girls just could’nt make a guy hard if HE wasn’t ready. Think evolution and genetic advantage. Just what is that advantage?
Agriculture: I have a pet theory (feel free to steal it). Cocaine is found in mummies. Scientists say there could not have been trade routes so dismiss this FACT. Drugs have always played an important part in human societies (e.g. Shamans, peace pipes, visions, early religion, etc). I think our hunter-gatherer kin learned how to cultivate drugs (by decree…and it was more convinient and reliable!) and then thought,“hey, if we can grow drugs, why not food”? 'Course that’s just my addled speculation, but it sounds good.
My $.02 worth…
Having a willing partner to the reproductive act is the advantage.
I can see many advantages to women having orgasms and experiencing sexual pleasure,like females that are as interested in sex as the males.
The advantage seems obvious.
It is quite common for animals to have sex for pleasure - that is to say sex for reasons other than directly for the purpose of reproduction.
For example, in some species of owls, the female will permit a male to mate only after a gift of food. She lays eggs and sits on the nest. She is not going to produce any more eggs, but the male keeps bring her food and the pair continue to copulate. It seems that the male is being rewarded for food with sex.
The sex wont directly produce any more chicks so the male must be doing it for pleasure. Of course, this transaction is ultimatly about reproduction - it allows the female to spend more time warming and guarding the eggs and chicks thereby increasing the chance of their survival.
Natural selection will, therefore, favour males that seek non-reproductive sex with a female mate that is the mother of his offspring.
I cannot help feeling that human evolution must have taken a similar path.
I don’t intend to steal it - just to bury some of it. The cocaine mummies story is probably just junk science (http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010126.html )
Why would a woman want to do it if it’s not pleasurable?
I would say a dog humping my leg is trying to enjoy and not to reproduce.
Humans will occasionally actively and consciously think “I want offspring. Therefore I had best have sex soon.”. This is sex for a reason other than pleasure. However, so far as I know, no other organism ever actively and consciously thinks that. The dog, or iguana, or salmon, or paremecium, or whatever is thinking (to the extent that each is capable of “thinking”) “hey, I’ll bet that if I did that, it’d feel really good”. Puppies, or iguanettes, or spawn, or paramecellia, are probably the furthest thing from the animal’s mind at the time.
Believe it or not, there is a high instance of homosexuality among giraffes. (As an African I’ve been unfortunate enough to see this for myself). This is caused by the fact that the males mature much faster than the females, but I I can’t be sure whether this is happens because of desire, or sheer stupidity.
Did you ever think to check your theory against known facts? Archeologists have a pretty good idea about when agriculture emerged in different regions. I don’t have any cites handy, but I’m willing to bet that the cultivation of drugs occurred much later. Most of those drugs grew naturally in the wild.
effac3d and Urban Ranger: Having a willing partner missises the mark a little. There are plenty of women who are capable of orgasm that I might wish to have sex with, but might not be “willing” to have it with me. (Ok, maybe not plenty 
).
I am glad women have orgasms. I am not sexist at all. I just assumed this Q went a little further back in history than modern hedonism. Observing the dogs in the neighborhood, I notice that all females are not willing participants. Yet they procreate anyway. My assumtion was that proto-men would be strong enough to procreate without a willing partner. Like I said, offensive as it may be to you (and me), think evolution. And, as crude as it may sound, women do not have to enjoy it for humans to propagate their species. My contention is that the same is not true for males - you can’t shoot pool with a rope.
scm1001 and chula: The ‘cocaine mummies’ issue is still up for debate but irrelavent to my arguement. I used the word “theory” in the laymen’s term. Hypothesis would probably have been better. And, yes, I have checked it against ‘known’ facts, and found sufficient evidence to support my claim, but since you feel it not necsessary to cite/site your rebuttal I’ll return you that same courtesy.
Science is a fluid medium - always changing. There are plenty of ‘facts’ that have not surfaced yet. Open minds move our knowlege of the world forward.
Further, I’m trying to convert anyone, I simply tossed it out as my “pet” speculation.
Quote chula - “Most of those drugs grew naturally in the wild.” Yes, as did food.