# Do animals know that sex makes babies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518 "2017-04-15T18:08:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518/1 "2017-04-15T18:08:11Z")
Lions behave as if they know what makes babies. They kill of the young when taking over a pride causing the females to go back into heat. They protect the young which are their off spring. But do they actually connect sex to making babies. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518/2 "2017-04-15T18:45:41Z")
Why lions in particular? All animals (including humans) have evolved instinctive behaviors that enhance fitness, i.e. improve their prospects for reproductive success (at least in the ancestral environment where those instincts evolved). Instinctive behaviors are _compulsions_, they are in the animal’s very nature. A lion surely does not grasp _why_ it feels the urge to kill cubs or to mate or to chase things that run away. Beyond instincts, humans have also evolved sophisticated reasoning skills that allow us to understand the way the world works, including the basis for our own emotions and instinctive impulses. Perhaps a few of the most intelligent non-human animals can also reason some elements of such things in a much cruder way. But I’m quite certain that this doesn’t extend to lions understanding the Darwinian basis for their instinctive behaviors, since lions are simply not sufficiently intelligent that this is plausible. A deeper question is whether an animal such as a lion is “conscious” at all in the same way that a human is conscious; whether consciousness is a binary question, or whether there are gradations of consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518/3 "2017-04-15T22:45:09Z")
Cecil on[how even humans only recently figured this out](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/734/when-did-mankind-figure-out-that-sex-babies) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518/4 "2017-04-15T23:02:17Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Cecil on[how even humans only recently figured this out](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/734/when-did-mankind-figure-out-that-sex-babies) That makes sense. Birds are even a better example than lions. They pare up, build a nest and then mate. They seem to know exactly what they are doing even though we know better. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518/5 "2017-04-15T23:35:40Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > That makes sense. Birds are even a better example than lions. They pare up, build a nest and then mate. They seem to know exactly what they are doing even though we know better. Well, yes. All animals have a coordinated and sometimes complex set of instincts and strategies to generate offspring. They inherited these instincts from their ancestors. If their ancestors had not possessed these traits, they would not themselves exist. The presence of these instincts is not grounds for inferring self-awareness or intelligent reasoning, any more than a bird’s ability to fly implies that the bird understands aerodynamics. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518/6 "2017-04-15T23:42:02Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > That makes sense. Birds are even a better example than lions. They pare up, build a nest and then mate. They seem to know exactly what they are doing even though we know better. Birds. Interesting choice. Many male birds will defend their mate, nest and nurture offspring. If they’ve had an extended, exclusive courtship, that’s great for the male’s genes. Rational beings would calculate the time for the albumin, and shell to form around the fertilized yolk… and realize they’re instead protecting another male’s offspring. Many species end up with the occasional breeding outside the exclusive male pairing. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518/7 "2017-04-16T00:00:07Z")
. Many species end up with the occasional breeding outside the exclusive male pairing. [/QUOTE] Just like humans! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-animals-know-that-sex-makes-babies/784518/8 "2017-04-16T00:24:56Z")
Nice poster handle/OP combo.