# Is there a word for 2 different non-human animal species having sex? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634 "2009-12-09T21:01:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/1 "2009-12-09T21:01:43Z")
This question is inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=543101) about \*Family Guy \*over in CS. If a human has sex with a dog, that, of course, is known as bestiality. But say a bear has sex with a dog, or an otter with an iguana… What’s that called? ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/2 "2009-12-09T21:05:57Z")
[Interspecies snorgling](http://cuteoverload.com/tag/interspecies-snorgling/)? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/3 "2009-12-09T21:10:31Z")
[Interspecies erotica (second quote from the top)?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424345/quotes) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/4 "2009-12-09T21:11:30Z")
Another example of Rule 34. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/5 "2009-12-09T21:28:37Z")
…whereas sex between two distinct _human_ species, as Ringworld fans know, is _rishathra_ (I just wanted to be the first to add that, because I knew someone would.) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/6 "2009-12-10T00:33:34Z")
Xenophilia? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/7 "2009-12-10T01:55:00Z")
Technically, it would simply be referred to as interspecific mating or copulation. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/8 "2009-12-10T03:52:25Z")
The word is “HOT.” I love otter on iguana porn. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/9 "2009-12-10T05:05:25Z")
Miscegenation was _supposed_ to mean that, when coined in the US in 1863 (in obvious circumstances, given that date), by people who thought whites and blacks were different species. That aside, can the OP provide instances of it actually occurring? If not there’s not really a need for a work for it. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/10 "2009-12-10T05:15:51Z")
Missed edit window: I guess that is really between two (conscious?) species, not two non-human species as specified in the OP. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/11 "2009-12-10T05:17:51Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > That aside, can the OP provide instances of it actually occurring? If not there’s not really a need for a work for it. Happens all the time, and sometimes results in hybrids. For example, horses and donkeys producing mules. Lots of animal species mate and produce hybrids in nature. Now, in the case of animals as distantly related as those mentioned in the OP, it doesn’t happen very often in nature, since animals that had the urge to mate would normally be able to find something more closely related, even if not the same species. But like a young dog, a young male animal may try to hump anything that can’t move away quick enough. It’s common enough that there are terms for it. Besides interspecific mating, mentioned in my last post, there’s also [heterospecific mating.](http://beheco.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/9/2/187) ---
**Author:** ![RedWood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f08c70/32.png) [@RedWood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedWood)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/12 "2009-12-10T05:28:18Z")
Bunny! WILL! Hump! ANYTHING!!! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/13 "2009-12-10T05:28:39Z")
But what about sex between a human and a Vulcan? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/14 "2009-12-10T12:58:30Z")
How about between a Frog and a Pig? I look at those classified-type columns in the Dating Sections with “Men Seeking Women”, “Women Seeking Men”, and always imagine a column for “Frogs Seeking Pigs”. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/15 "2009-12-10T13:45:35Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > But say a bear has sex with a dog, or an otter with an iguana… What’s that called? Or a [a monkey with a goat?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7NTYeRg5Dg) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/16 "2009-12-10T13:51:35Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > Another example of Rule 34. Rule 34, part 2: The Men Who Stare At Goatse. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/17 "2009-12-10T13:55:29Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Miscegenation was _supposed_ to mean that, when coined in the US in 1863 (in obvious circumstances, given that date), by people who thought whites and blacks were different species. > > That aside, can the OP provide instances of it actually occurring? If not there’s not really a need for a work for it. Horse + Donkey = [Mule](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule) or a [hinny](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinny). It happens that two different species will mate… so what’s the word for it? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/18 "2009-12-10T15:15:23Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > It happens that two different species will mate… so what’s the word for it? See posts #7 and 11. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/19 "2009-12-10T15:32:02Z")
> [@Joe Frickin Friday](#): > > Or a [a monkey with a goat?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7NTYeRg5Dg) Can I unsee it now, please? ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634/20 "2009-12-10T20:41:29Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Rule 34, part 2: The Men Who Stare At Goatse. Gonna be using that one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-word-for-2-different-non-human-animal-species-having-sex/520634.md?page=2)