# Other species and anal sex **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2008, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198 "2008-10-23T12:46:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/41 "2008-10-25T20:04:53Z")
> [@gurujulp](#): > > I have personally witnessed full anal penetration between male goats on a farm. It was rape on the part of the agressor. Did you stop the rape? And, just out of curiousity, did the rapee show any signs of emotional trauma? Is that just a human thing. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/43 "2022-12-30T17:26:42Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope. > Why would you put your genitalia where feces comes out of? Please explain how birds, reptiles, amphibians, and some mammals have sex. > **[Cloaca](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaca#:~:text=All%20amphibians%2C%20reptiles%20and%20birds,three%20separate%20orifices%20for%20evacuation)** > > In the anatomy of some animals, a cloaca (/kloʊˈeɪkə/ kloh-AY-kə), pl.: cloacae (/kloʊˈeɪsi/ kloh-AY-see or /kloʊˈeɪki/ kloh-AY-kee), is the rear orifice that serves as the only opening for the digestive, reproductive, and urinary tracts (if present) of many vertebrate animals. All amphibians, reptiles, birds, and a few mammals (monotremes, tenrecs, golden moles, and marsupial moles), have this orifice, from which they excrete both urine and feces; this is in contrast to most placental mammals, w... ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/44 "2022-12-30T17:31:49Z")
This thread wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the Ig Nobel prize-winning discovery of mallard duck homosexual necrophilia. > **[Kees Moeliker: How a dead duck changed my life](https://improbable.com/2013/04/01/kees-moeliker-how-a-dead-duck-changed-my-life-2/)** > > Ig Nobel Prize winner Kees Moeliker’s TED talk is now online. The people at TED chose to debut it on April 1: Kees was awarded the 2003 Ig Nobel Prize for biology, for documenting the first s… ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/45 "2022-12-30T20:53:03Z")
I’ve witnessed a dog have anal sex with a male cat. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/46 "2022-12-30T20:56:45Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > This thread wouldn’t be complete without a mention of Well, if we’re going for completeness, there’s also: > **[Kenyan official says gay lions must be separated](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/gay-lions-sex-kenya-photos-men-inspired-need-therapy-says-official-a8036016.html)** > > The country's 'moral policeman' Ezekial Mutua says the animals must have been inspired by seeing gay men and should receive therapy ---
**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 30, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/47 "2022-12-30T20:58:01Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > > [@hogarth](#): > > > > This thread wouldn’t be complete without a mention of > > Well, if we’re going for completeness, there’s also: > > [Kenyan official says male lions who had sex 'must have seen gay men behaving badly' and should be separated | The Independent | The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/gay-lions-sex-kenya-photos-men-inspired-need-therapy-says-official-a8036016.html) - Just how many gay men have sex within view of lions? ---
**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:** [December 30, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/48 "2022-12-30T21:03:46Z")
For some reason lions just seem unusually susceptible to the influence of the woke LGBT agenda. > **[Five wild lionesses grow a mane and start acting like males](https://www.newscientist.com/article/2106866-five-wild-lionesses-grow-a-mane-and-start-acting-like-males/)** > > The unusual characteristics of a few lionesses in Botswana may be down to excess testosterone, making them male-like as well as apparently infertile ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/49 "2022-12-30T21:10:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And how do you think hormonal cues work? Hormones cause animals (including humans) to have sex by making sex feel good. No, not necessarily. Also, although @Tristan mentioned only _hormones_, I think he likely means _instinct_ in a broader sense. The degree to which a species finds pleasure in sex will likely be a function of factors like whether individuals have sex multiple times, and how much discretion they have for when to have sex. If a species _must_ have sex at some particular time, with the first candidate of the preferred gender that they encounter, then the evolutionary selective pressure will just be for that behaviour to be entirely reflexive; pleasurable sensations not required. Then, I would expect a spectrum between purely instinctive on one end and purely a choice due to conscious awareness of potential pleasure on the other, with species occupying various positions along this spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/50 "2022-12-30T21:15:54Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > If a species _must_ have sex at some particular time, with the first candidate of the preferred gender that they encounter, then the evolutionary selective pressure will just be for that behaviour to be entirely reflexive; pleasurable sensations not required. That’s like saying that something isn’t green, it’s a color between blue and yellow. You’re describing two synonyms. Pleasure is just the name given to the process by which instinctive drives work. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/51 "2022-12-30T21:19:42Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > I’ve witnessed a dog have anal sex with a male cat. Which ended up more wasted after the affair? The cat or the dog? ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/52 "2022-12-30T21:21:16Z")
Not at all. If I tap under your kneecap, does it _feel good_ to kick? One of the primary theories for why conscious beings have pleasure and pain, is that it allows us to make judgements. Eating food is pleasurable to me, but I can forego it if I think something else is more important right now. Alternatively I could choose to do something unpleasant if I think it’s for the greater good. If I am just doing something reflexively though, there is no need to feel anything, and, more importantly, no evolutionary mechanism that would select any feeling in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/53 "2022-12-30T21:24:55Z")
That’s a reflex, not an instinct. Reflexes are much simpler, and don’t even involve the brain. You can’t do something as complicated as having sex just by reflex. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/54 "2022-12-30T21:30:56Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Just how many gay men have sex within view of lions? “Well, Bob, we won’t be able to outrun that lion that’s approaching, so what do we want to do with our last minute or two on earth?”" ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/55 "2022-12-30T21:32:43Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Not at all. If I tap under your kneecap, does it _feel good_ to kick? If I seek out someone to tap my kneecap, then it makes sense to assume that I enjoy kicking. So, yeah, the humping behavior is fairly reflexive; if they are stimulated in the right way, they will go right to town on whatever they are going at (and female dogs this too), whether or not they actually enjoy it. But, if they are seeking out things to hump, then it stands to reason that they _do_ enjoy it. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2022, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/56 "2022-12-30T21:41:56Z")
Yes, to some extent there may be a semantic issue. Even organisms without brains have a “drive” to do things, from chemotaxis on up. And higher organisms (including humans) certainly also have “drive” to do certain things that _don’t_ pass through higher mental processing for conscious deliberation. I don’t think that’s in dispute. So if we reserve the word “instinct” for behaviors that are mediated through higher mental processing and subject to conscious deliberation and decision making? Then I think I align with **Chronos** in saying that emotional states _are_ evolution’s mechanism for implementing instinctive behavior. I’m not sure if it’s precisely correct to call all of these emotional states “pleasure-seeking”, but again that may just be semantics. Obviously we sometimes also have an instinctive emotion-driven urge to fight, even knowing that it is likely to lead directly to pain. But it leads to a higher level of non-physical mental “pleasure” to do so, and perhaps great distress if we capitulate without fighting. It’s difficult to research such things in animals in a precise manner, because we’re talking about internal mental states. When a bird builds a nest in a specific way at a specific time of year, one imagines that the bird feels strongly that this is the right and proper thing to do, that the bird feels distress if it is unable to do so successfully, and some kind of satisfaction if it does. Is that best described as pleasure-seeking? Only a bird could tell us. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/57 "2022-12-30T21:55:13Z")
@Tristan You might want to reconsider your viewpoint that nonhuman females receive no sexual gratification during sex. Check out comparative physiology. Female animals have clitorises (clitorii?), which are located quite near the vaginal opening, or even in the actual vagina. Female horses are supposed to be rather prodigiously endowed. To the best of my knowledge, that organ has only one purpose. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/58 "2022-12-30T21:57:58Z")
I love that there is a person who has an avatar of a hand in a latex glove displaying a modified shocker in this thread… ---
**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:** [December 30, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/59 "2022-12-30T22:31:49Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Female animals have clitorises (clitorii?), which are located quite near the vaginal opening, or even in the actual vagina. This is FQ. I’m not sure that rumors like this are appropriate, nobody has ever managed to find one. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/60 "2022-12-30T22:37:15Z")
@Riemann I stated fact, and I encourage you to look it up for yourself. Through my own studies, I learned about the cat clitoris and its location at the entrance of the cat vagina. Today I Googled “nonhuman mammal clitoris” and discovered the fascinating detail of female horse anatomy. If you can present evidence to the contrary, I’d be happy to see it. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198/61 "2022-12-30T22:39:13Z")
@Ike_Witt My avatar is a ceramic “knick knack” of a hand in the Vulcan “ta’al.” ~VOW [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/other-species-and-anal-sex/469198.md?page=4)