# Is there bestiality among beasts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562 "2007-07-12T23:23:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/1 "2007-07-12T23:23:19Z")
Some humans will have sex with other species of animal – but humans do a **lot** things that would never even occur to any other species. In the wild, do animals of different species ever mate? ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/2 "2007-07-12T23:32:41Z")
Sure, Lions and Tigers do it, as well at Horses, Zebras, Donkeys, etc. Dolphins do it as well i believe ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/3 "2007-07-12T23:33:32Z")
There have been polar bear/grizzly bear hybrids found in the wild, which I assume indicates at least some interspecies loving in the animal kingdom. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/4 "2007-07-12T23:34:16Z")
Yep, certain animals have been known to sexually stimulate other species and attempt at mating - sometimes with disastrous results. Some apes will engage in sexual play with monkeys that they also eat. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/5 "2007-07-12T23:35:35Z")
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12] Sure, Lions and Tigers do it, as well at Horses, Zebras, Donkeys, etc. Dolphins do it as well i believe [/QUOTE] In the wild? I thought mules, Ligers, Tigons, etc. were all the results of animals kept in captivity ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/6 "2007-07-13T01:21:45Z")
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12] Sure, Lions and Tigers do it, as well at Horses, Zebras, Donkeys, etc. Dolphins do it as well i believe [/QUOTE] Umm, what do dolphins due it with besides other dolphins & propane salesmen? ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/7 "2007-07-13T01:28:18Z")
My male rabbit sure liked trying to do it with my female cat every chance he got. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/8 "2007-07-13T01:28:39Z")
Goats have been known to mount other critters, like dogs, sheep, and even small ponies. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/9 "2007-07-13T01:29:33Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Umm, what do dolphins due it with besides other dolphins & propane salesmen? Other species of dolphins, for one; e.g., interspecies interactions have been documented between [spotted and bottlenose dolphins](http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/eaam/am/2003/00000029/00000003/art00003). I don’t know if that counts in terms of the OP. Oh, and a [dolphin with a false killer whale](http://www.ratbehavior.org/Hybridization.htm), but I don’t know if that was in the wild or in captivity. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/10 "2007-07-13T01:43:30Z")
My dog (female - fixed) will hump my cat (male - fixed), so I’m guessing that there’s a lot of fooling around going on in general. Yes, I know it’s a dominance display. It’s also a sign that there’s a reflex there that ain’t too picky. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/11 "2007-07-13T02:07:22Z")
There’s lots of intra-species sex in the wild, but much of it is at least inter-genus, like many of the examples here\*. There have been reports of elephants raping rhinos, though, and that might better fit what the OP is asking about. If two species were to mate often in the wild (producing fertile hybrids), biologists would probably reclassify them as the same species \*although many of the examples, like ligers, only occur in captivity. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/12 "2007-07-13T02:15:05Z")
[QUOTE=Idle Thoughts] My male rabbit sure liked trying to do it with my female cat every chance he got. [/QUOTE] As he apparently tried it more than once, I infer she had been declawed. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/13 "2007-07-13T02:28:55Z")
[QUOTE=Malodorous] In the wild? I thought mules, Ligers, Tigons, etc. were all the results of animals kept in captivity [/QUOTE] Tigon? Is that a cross between a TIger and a draGON? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/14 "2007-07-13T03:36:08Z")
[QUOTE=Pygmy Rugger] Tigon? Is that a cross between a TIger and a draGON? 🆒 [/QUOTE] Yea, some scientists decided that tigers weren’t quite dangerous enough, so they’d try and breed some fire-breathing ones. You know, just to see.. (Tigons and ligers are both tiger/lion hybrids, what gender the respective parents are determines the name (though I forget which is which)). ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/15 "2007-07-13T03:42:01Z")
Hmm—Does it really count as beastiality if the, er, mates are indeed capable of producing viable offspring (like lions and tigers, or donkeys and horses)? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/16 "2007-07-13T04:06:51Z")
not the wild, but… > **[Dog sodomizes child](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=428519)** > > When I first heard about this, I thought the news had been taken in by sick joke. I’ve been around lots of unneutered dogs, and while I’ve seen a few of them do dominance mounts, I’ve never seen a dog try to penetrate a person. Has anything like... ---
**Author:** ![swdowning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@swdowning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swdowning)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/17 "2007-07-13T04:28:12Z")
Sure, although it rarely results in conception. When physical/survival-based needs are unsatisfied, pressure increases to meet those needs. As the pressure increases, “releaser” requirements decrease. It’s very much like what happens to the way in which a guy perceives the woman at the other end of the bar around closing time. She might have been a 3 at 9:00, but by the time that 1:30 rolls around, she’s become an 8. This has nothing to do with beer goggles, although that effect should not be discounted - it’s just not necessary to this explanation. We see the results of releaser requirements decreasing every time a dog humps a human’s leg, or a sofa, or whatever. Those objects have become satisfactory releasers, and have triggered a fixed action pattern (humping). In the wild, any other animal can serve as a releaser, and if the plug can reach the socket…voila! If the animals are sufficiently similar genetically, conception can occur. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/18 "2007-07-13T04:54:51Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] My dog (female - fixed) will hump my cat (male - fixed), so I’m guessing that there’s a lot of fooling around going on in general. Yes, I know it’s a dominance display. It’s also a sign that there’s a reflex there that ain’t too picky. [/QUOTE] I’m intrigued by this comment, let me just make sure I understand you correctly - are you saying your female dog will get into a position where she is **on top** of the male cat and hump him **as if** she had a male organ to copulate with? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/19 "2007-07-13T04:55:43Z")
I got to wondering about this, BTW, upon seeing a clip from _The Mind of Mencia_ featuring a penguin going at it with a duck. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2007, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562/20 "2007-07-13T04:58:26Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] Hmm—Does it really count as beastiality if the, er, mates are indeed capable of producing viable offspring (like lions and tigers, or donkeys and horses)? [/QUOTE] This is a good point, and you’ve articulated what I was implying when I noted that a lot of what we see is still intra-genus mating. Let’s keep in mind that the label “species” is, to a certain extent, a human construct. If a horse mates with a donkey, that’s really not so surprising. When an elephant tries to mate with a rhino, that’s a different matter. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-bestiality-among-beasts/411562.md?page=2)