# Just how strong is an animal's mating urge, and is there any comparible copulsion in humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 2, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968 "2016-04-02T20:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/41 "2016-04-06T17:39:46Z")
On a related note, one sometimes reads “science” adamantly insisting that men and women have equally strong sex drive. Now, whether men and women indeed have equally strong sex drive or not isn’t the question - my question is, why do some people argue so adamantly that it is? Would women somehow be “inferior” if they had less of a sex drive? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/42 "2016-04-06T17:43:20Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Yes, but teens aren’t ripping off clothes and having sex in class, the hallways, the bus, etc. Though they may be horny I don’t see it nearly on the same level as an animal’s urges. Because animals wouldn’t suffer legal, societal or academic consequences for having sex in public. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/43 "2016-04-06T17:54:04Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > Yes, but teens aren’t ripping off clothes and having sex in class, the hallways, the bus, etc. Though they may be horny I don’t see it nearly on the same level as an animal’s urges. They aren’t generally urinating or defecating in the hallways, either. I know of no reason to think that the urges to pee and poop are much different in humans than in other animals; the differences lie in how we choose to, and are trained and conditioned to, deal with these urges. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/44 "2016-04-06T18:07:45Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Or, iow, consciousness. Our ability to resist such urges is what separates us from animals. > [@Latka Gravis](#): > > We believe that meaningless ritual and mindless superstition are all that separate us from the animals. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/45 "2016-04-06T18:19:39Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Because animals wouldn’t suffer legal, societal or academic consequences for having sex in public. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > They aren’t generally urinating or defecating in the hallways, either. I know of no reason to think that the urges to pee and poop are much different in humans than in other animals; the differences lie in how we choose to, and are trained and conditioned to, deal with these urges. I’m sure that there’s a psychology experiment somewhere that shows that rats can be trained not to eat the tasty food pellet when the light is on, because they know they will get an electric shock. Humans are just (usually) better trained. (There’s the story about the person doing drug trials on rats to measure metabolization of a drug. She needed a urine sample at regular intervals from them. Someone suggested that they be trained to not urinate unless the light was on, by electrifying the pan under the cage so they get a shock if they urinate off schedule. This worked for a while, but then she stopped getting samples. She came in one night to see one of the rats lying on its back an peeing up and out the side of the cage.) ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/46 "2016-04-06T20:08:56Z")
I think most of you are missing the point. The OP isn’t, I think, asking about animals and humans generally. Rather asking about animals that have a defined “mating season” and humans, who do not - humans of course can mate more or less as they please, subject only, if female, to their experience of the menstrual cycle - which is not seasonal. Some animals have a defined “mating season”, and only during that season will they express interest in sex: > **[Seasonal breeder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_breeder#Breeding_season)** > > Seasonal breeders are animal species that successfully mate only during certain times of the year. These times of year allow for the optimization of survival of young due to factors such as ambient temperature, food and water availability, and changes in the predation behaviors of other species. Related sexual interest and behaviors are expressed and accepted only during this period. Female seasonal breeders will have one or more estrus cycles only when she is "in season" or fertile and recept Se... Some animals will express interest in nothing but fighting (if male) and mating, during that period - for example, in the “rut”: > **[Rut (mammalian reproduction)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rut_(mammalian_reproduction))** > > The rut (from the Latin rugire, meaning "to roar") is the mating season of certain mammals, which includes ruminants such as deer, sheep, camels, goats, pronghorns, bison, giraffes and antelopes, and extends to others such as skunks and elephants. The rut is characterized in males by an increase in testosterone, exaggerated sexual dimorphisms, increased aggression, and increased interest in females. The males of the species may mark themselves with mud, undergo physiological changes or perform Du... Other times, they are not interested in sex. This is in contrast to humans, who are “continuous breeders”. > **[Continuous breeder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_breeders)** > > Continuous breeders are animal species that can breed or mate throughout the year. This includes humans and apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons), who can have a child at any time of year. In continuous breeders, females are sexually receptive during estrus, at which time ovarian follicles are maturing and ovulation can occur. Evidence of ovulation, the phase during which conception is most probable, is advertised to males among many non-human primates via swelling and re... For such mammals, males typically express the same interest in sex _all the time_. The unknowable question, is how animals that go into something like a “rut” feel about sex during that “rut”, compared with how humans, who are more or less always interested. The supposition - and it is reasonable, if not provable - is that animals who are only interested in sex in short, defined periods, who experience a “rut”, are relatively _more_ interested in sex in that short period, than humans, who are “constant breeders”, are at all times. Given that some males who go into “rut” lose a dangerously large percentage of their body weight because they spend all their time fighting and fornicating, rather than eating, it is fair to say that objectively the urge is very strong. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/47 "2016-04-06T21:16:47Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > … > Given that some males who go into “rut” lose a dangerously large percentage of their body weight because they spend all their time fighting and fornicating, rather than eating, it is fair to say that objectively the urge is very strong. 😉 You mean like the joke about the newlyweds - the wife goes to the doctor after the second week and complains - “The first week, we did it three times a day, this week it’s only once a day.” The doctor replies “Once a day is not too bad. What’s the problem?” She says “When it was 3 times a day, it meant we would at least stop for breakfast and lunch.” * * * You could look on post-menopausal (for women) as “after mating season”. As I mentioned above, there’s a whole field of study on mating strategies and seasons vs continuous mating, pairing and monogamy vs. promiscuity, known vs hidden fertility. Each aspect has it’s pluses and minuses and implications for other aspects. I suppose the short answer to the OP is we have no idea what’s going through a horse’s brain, except maybe (all joking aside) considering a teenage boy as the closest example we can come to approximating the same level of urge. Some men just stay teenagers all their life. (I assume a horse, once he’s done, then has a meal and a nap before he’s up for round two? Or does he carry on to exhaustion?) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/48 "2016-04-06T22:07:22Z")
Another related question: Men are usually “spent” after one orgasm, and don’t desire sex for a while, but since women can have multiple orgasms, at what point do they no longer desire more? ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/49 "2016-04-06T23:05:37Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Another related question: Men are usually “spent” after one orgasm, and don’t desire sex for a while, but since women can have multiple orgasms, at what point do they no longer desire more? It’s not really an answer but the reason for the “spent” feeling in men post-orgasm is the presence of a female hormone, prolactin. Men have much lower levels than women, who use prolactin in order to lactate after pregnancy. But in men, it causes the refractory period after orgasm. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/50 "2016-04-07T02:36:17Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > I think the entire question is more an artifact of how we like to think about ourselves as somehow magically disrinct from animals than it is an inquiry into any real phenomenon. Certainly not part of my thinking on the matter. It’s genuine interest. I’ve always understood that when an animal goes into heat, it’s gonna find mate and get busy. Somewhere long ago, and I have no idea were anymore, I read an article about the differences between people and animal mating urges. The example it gave was if people’s mating instincts were like an animal’s, if a woman at meeting with a bunch of men were to go into heat, the men would all lose self-control and start fighting to be the one to have sex with her on the conference room table. Since then, as the feral cats around here start making more feral cats and the neighbor’s dogs break out of backyards to make more unwanted pups, I’ve wondered if that’s really what it’s like. Got some interesting answers in this thread. Thanks, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2016, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968/51 "2016-04-07T03:10:22Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > I read an article about the differences between people and animal mating urges. The example it gave was if people’s mating instincts were like an animal’s, if a woman at meeting with a bunch of men were to go into heat, the men would all lose self-control and start fighting to be the one to have sex with her on the conference room table. It would be interesting to see how HR handles this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-how-strong-is-an-animals-mating-urge-and-is-there-any-comparible-copulsion-in-humans/750968.md?page=2)