# Is Homo Sapiens the only specie that rapes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2000, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215 "2000-04-27T13:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![domina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/96bed5/32.png) [@domina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/domina)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/21 "2000-04-29T16:27:03Z")
Posted by Vandal: > [@](#): > > Actually, there is a species of male bats that forces sex upon the female. > I cannot remember the name of the species or the common name, but it > was a recent special on bats on the discovery channel. It may rerun > again. Or hopefully, someone here can elaborate on it. I remember that show. As I recall, they were bats who pair-bonded. One female was separated temporarily from her mate, and another male jumped on her. The female squawked and put up a fuss–it certainly looked like rape. ---
**Author:** ![RoboDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bbe5ce/32.png) [@RoboDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RoboDude)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/22 "2000-04-29T17:04:38Z")
* * * ## When I was a teen I was with my dad one day. We were at one of his friends shops in town. The guy had this lab that laid around in the shop all day. One of their friends came in with his pet Bobcat on a leash. This stupid dog gets up comes over and tries to mount the damned Bobcat. Need I say that fur and a good portion of the dogs nose began to fly. A pet _bobcat_? Is that legal? Where was this? ---
**Author:** ![Anti\_Pro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Anti\_Pro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anti_Pro)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/23 "2000-04-29T19:55:43Z")
The issue that hasn’t been addressed yet, is that rape in the human world isn’t just about sex, but about power, and humiliation. The examples given so far, have addressed males wanting to ‘relieve’ themselves, but not about necessarily humiliating and degrading the female. Human rapists seek privacy and usually darkness to cover the act they know to be ‘wrong’ and illegal. Animals don’t seek that, their acts aren’t based on a ‘wrong’ vs. ‘right’ behavior. Many rapists are married, so it isn’t just about the sexual act, they have access to that. It is about exerting power to induce fear and helplessness in the female, that is exciting to them. And if it isn’t achieved sufficiently, they will use sodomy, which I doubt is echoed in the animal kingdom. Though I’ve witnessed odd, aberrant behavior, my mom’s FEMALE dog was forever ‘humping’ the leg of any unwary visitor to our house (pretty embarrassing if it happened to be a prospective boyfriend, they tend to look upon this as an unhappy dating experience!) ---
**Author:** ![Whammo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2000, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/24 "2000-04-29T22:55:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > When the male realized that he was not going to be able to mate with her, he immediately began to masturbate himself with his foot > \*\* Dear God man! Dont you know i’m trying to work here?!?! So I’m taking this call and trying to walk someone through fixing their shit and reading the board at the same time. Then I read your post. Your whole description is priceless, I almost lost it on the phone and had to make an excuse and put this guy on hold while I laughed. Are you trying to get me fired??!?! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2000, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/25 "2000-04-30T01:27:22Z")
I agree! ROFL on the monkey story – I had to read that one to my husband to explain why I was laughing so hard. ---
**Author:** ![Beruang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@Beruang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beruang)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/26 "2000-05-01T14:34:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > I guess the concept of rape can be looked at in two seemingly similar but basically different ways: (1) an act of engaging in sex when one of the two individuals is unwilling but unable to prevent the act; and (2) an act of sex brought about because one individual has threatened the other with harm or death unless the other complies. Situation (1) seems to describe all the acts of “animal” rape we are discussing, while only Homo Sapiens has the sophistication to commit situation (2). > > \*\* Only if one can show that animals have a “will.” Which requires a sense of self. And probably a sense of morality. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/27 "2000-05-01T17:14:30Z")
> [@](#): > > The examples given so far, have addressed males wanting to ‘relieve’ themselves, but not about necessarily humiliating and degrading the female. How about the flatworm homosexual rape example? I think the male that was the victim is degraded and humiliated. ---
**Author:** ![Iolanthe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7bcc69/32.png) [@Iolanthe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iolanthe)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/28 "2000-05-01T21:46:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > The examples given so far, have addressed males wanting to ‘relieve’ themselves, but not about necessarily humiliating and degrading the female. > > How about the flatworm homosexual rape example? I think the male that was the victim is degraded and humiliated. > \*\* Actually Arnold, I’d call this one more competition for a mate, rather than an attempt to humiliate & degrade. Humiliation and degradation may be the result, both for the male flatworm and the female baboon, but I don’t think it was the intent on the aggressor. How degraded can a flatworm feel anyway? Mind you, _I’m_ feeling slightly queasy. ---
**Author:** ![jiHymas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@jiHymas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jiHymas)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/29 "2002-06-01T00:43:26Z")
It took two years, but **Scientific American** came through for us. In the June 2002 issue, Maggioncalda & Sapolsky describe rape as a common reproductive strategy among orangutans. Briefly, there are three types of fertile orangutans - adult males, arrested adolescent males and females. Adult males are about twice the weight of members of the other two groups and there is a social tendency for young males to remain arrested adolescents for as long as there is an adult male around (if they start to grow, they get beat up a lot). “The great majority of adult female orangutans are sexually receptive only to mature males.” The arrested adolescent males will rape adult females. There are a number of references in the article; the on-line ones are [www.orangutan.org](http://www.orangutan.org), [www.orangutan.com](http://www.orangutan.com) and [www.orangutannetwork.net](http://www.orangutannetwork.net) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/30 "2002-06-01T01:35:21Z")
My great-uncle Zenas Bartlett had a pet monkey, Jake, whose bad behavior was documented in the book _The Marlin Compound_ by Frank Oltorf. ```auto ...[Jake had] an unnatural attachment to cats. He would grab those who strayed at the barn and would race with the yowling victim to the top of a tree, where the unfortunate cat faced the awful alternative of being dropped or seduced. Sleek toms were as vulnerable as demure tabbies, it making little difference to Jake as it was all wrong anyway. ``` ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/31 "2002-06-01T03:15:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragwyr \* > \*\*Considering that most animal species capablie of sexual reproduction have sex specifically for perpetuating the species, I would say YES. Humans are one of a couple of species that have sex for pleasure (I think dolphins have been cited as doing this as well, but I’m not so sure I buy it). Therefore, humans would be the only species capable of rape… all the other animals have sex because they WANT to have offspring. I guess you can’t call that rape then. > > * * * > > -Dragwyr > “If God had meant for man to eat waffles, > he would have given him lips like snowshoes” > -Rev. Billy C. Wirtz \*\* You need to look up the Bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees). The use sex much like humans do. Not just for reproduction. Check out this link [http://songweaver.com/info/bonobos.html](http://songweaver.com/info/bonobos.html) [sub]I’ve forgotten how do to the fancy coding so this will have to do[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/32 "2002-06-01T03:58:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragwyr \* > **Considering that most animal species capablie of sexual reproduction have sex specifically for perpetuating the species, I would say YES. Humans are one of a couple of species that have sex for pleasure (I think dolphins have been cited as doing this as well, but I’m not so sure I buy it). Therefore, humans would be the only species capable of rape… all the other animals have sex because they WANT to have offspring. I guess you can’t call that rape then.** I want to echo what **Anti Pro** said. Rape is not about sexual pleasure, it’s about domination. So whether or not other animals have sex for pleasure or reproduction is not relevant to the rape issue. It seems that some (I’m thinking of primates) do use sex as a show of domination. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/33 "2002-06-01T04:54:53Z")
I just ran across [this](http://www.snopes2.com/critters/wild/pleasure.htm): > [@](#): > > Bonobos and dolphins are the only animals other than humans who engage in sex for pleasure. The above claim is true for a very specific definition of “sex for pleasure,” which in this case is copulation between the male and female of a species where such activity is completely separated from the purpose of fertilization. That is, in only a couple of animal species other than humans will males and females willingly (and regularly) engage in sex with each other even when there is no possibility that offspring will be produced as a result. (Note that this definition specifically excludes homosexual and masturbatory activity, as neither of those categories involves male-female pairings.) ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/34 "2002-06-01T17:00:05Z")
Wild Stallions rape. When a stallion is ejected from his dominant poistion, the newly dominant stallion will have forceable sex with as many mares as possible, for the purpose of causing miscarriages in any pregnant mares. It’s about reproductive strategy: If the mares miscarry, they’ll become available sooner to bear the new stallion’s young, and the stallion will be guarding fewer of his former rival’s offspring. Needless to say, the mares resist this as much as possible, and it’s not unheard-of for a new (or even established) stallion to recieve very serious wounds in the process. Deer also rape, and in fact, ungulates in general can be very brutal. Male lions kill the young of a male that has lost a battle for top position, for the purpose of bringing the females into heat as quickly as possible (and remove the young of his defeated rival). This may not be _technically_ rape, but serves the same purpose, reproductive strategy-wise. ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215/35 "2002-06-01T19:12:14Z")
I think it’s funny that people hear about rape in animal communities like dolphins, which are given credit for many human traits like intelligence; language; and curiosity, yet say they have “a hard time believing this”. Why? I do think there is only one quality truly unique among humans, our ability to self-hate. All evil is not exclusive of the homo sapiens specis. There are cannibal animals up and down the food chain, baby killing animals, greed too, and yes rape in it’s various forms exists in the animal kingdom. Rape for dominance seems to be the most common form, dogs for example will hump anything including yourt leg to assert dominance. Many other animals do this as well. It’s hard to ascribe actual motive to more deliberate sexual rape, but dolphins do indeed engage in this. Male dolphins form strong bonds with other young male dolphins while growing up and will often assauly younger female dolphins (usually ones that are not mated to a specific adult male) and apparently, according to at least one documentary on the Discovery channel and a Cornell web page that I can unfortunately no longer pull up, they engage in homosexual rape of much younger male dolphins as well. Although they do this without the benefit of papal sanction. Seems that the more intelligent an animal is or the more leisure time it has the more nasty business it can get up to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-homo-sapiens-the-only-specie-that-rapes/11215.md?page=1)