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Wanking Wildlife: Animal Masturbation

Excellent article, James.
As for the perennial issue of tool use, an entire category of tools has gone unmentioned -- tools animals make and use to masturbate. Dolphins and porcupines masturbate with objects, and primates regularly modify objects into suitable sex toys. A female orangutan bit pieces of liana to the right size, a male orangutan made an orifice in a large leaf, and a female macaque had five methods of making toys out of leaves and twigs. If an ape discovered electricity, but used it to power a vibrator, we'd be unlikely to hear about it.
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Which reminds me of something I was going to say about the cardboard tubes in toilet rolls - but on second thoughts I'll give it a miss..!
 
Me and the Mrs were just discussing the fate of pandas .. they're frigid and fussy, even Chris Packham has lost patience in them surviving as a species ..

.. so here's some pandas having a wank ..

 
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Well, I'm glad I didn't browse the site in work!

The clip did not play for me but it appears to involve a demon erupting from a panda's bum.

Maybe this was a "Pandas, stop it now, reserve your precious semen video?" :rolleyes:
 
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Macaques in Bali pleasure themselves with stones ...
With Little Else to Do in Bali, Monkeys Have Found a Way to Make Sex Toys

In the Sacred Monkey Forest of Bali, food is everywhere and masturbation is rampant.

The thousand or so long-tailed macaques that live in this hotbed of hedonism have it really, really good. ...

With full bellies and little else to worry about in their little garden of Eden, these monkeys have a whole lot of time for leisure – and self-indulgence is their main game.

In recent years, male and female macaques alike have been regularly spotted rubbing and tapping stones on their genitals, leading scientists to propose a "sex toy" hypothesis.

This hypothesis holds that the stones are being used by Balinese macaques for self-directed, tool-assisted masturbation, similar to what has been seen in chimps, porcupines, dolphins, and, well, us.

Unlike our own species, however, masturbation rarely leads to actual ejaculation for other male animals. This makes it hard to determine how much pleasure the monkeys are actually receiving from stone play.

That said, male macaques do get erections when rubbing or tapping their genitals with rocks, which doesn't happen when they touch stones to other parts of their body.

What's more, female macaques are quite picky about what shape of rocks they choose for self-pleasure, which indicates they are picking those most suited to the task at hand, like ones with sharp edges (!) or a grainy texture.

"Thus," researchers conclude, "it can be confidently concluded that these actions are not incidental."

"Overall," they add, "our data partly supported the 'Sex Toy' hypothesis indicating that stone-directed tapping and rubbing onto the genital and inguinal area are sexually motivated behaviors." ...

The study is based on video footage in the Sacred Monkey Forest, collected by scientists in the years between 2016 and 2019.

The authors collected hundreds of examples of tool-assisted masturbation by groups of local macaques during this time period.

Most of the monkeys observed rubbing or tapping stones on their genitals happened to be male, though there was no shortage of female monkeys giving it a go.

Among nonhuman primates, female masturbation is scarcely documented. This could be due to human bias, or the fact that it's more difficult to tell when a female is sexually aroused. Or both.

It's hard to say why macaques in Bali are using stones to touch themselves, but researchers think the simplest answer is probably the right one: it feels good. ...

Long-tailed macaques aren't the only non-human animals that have been caught using possible 'sex toys'.

Some animals even use other animals for sexual gratification. Male and female Japanese macaques were recently filmed jumping on the backs of deer and thrusting vigorously against their ride.

And headlines were made a few years ago when a male dolphin was caught using a dead fish for self-pleasure. ...
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FULL STORY (With Video): https://www.sciencealert.com/with-l...ali-monkeys-have-found-a-way-to-make-sex-toys
 
Here are the bibliographic details and abstract for the published research report.

Cenni, C., Christie, J. B. A., Van der Pant, Y., Gunst, N., Vasey, P. L., Wandia, I. N., & Leca, J-B (2022).
Do monkeys use sex toys? Evidence of stone tool-assisted masturbation in free-ranging long-tailed macaques.
Ethology, 128, 632– 646.
https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13324

Abstract
Recent reports on tool use in nonforaging contexts have led researchers to reconsider the proximate drivers of instrumental object manipulation. In this study, we explore the physiological and behavioral correlates of two stone-directed and seemingly playful actions, the repetitive tapping and rubbing of stones onto the genital and inguinal area, respectively, that may have been co-opted into self-directed tool-assisted masturbation in long-tailed macaques (i.e., “Sex Toy” hypothesis). We predicted that genital and inguinal stone-tapping and rubbing would be more closely temporally associated with physiological responses (e.g., estrus in females, penile erection in males) and behavior patterns (e.g., sexual mounts and other mating interactions) that are sexually motivated than other stone-directed play. We also predicted that the stones selected to perform genital and inguinal stone-tapping and rubbing actions would be less variable in number, size, and texture than the stones typically used during other stone-directed playful actions. Overall, our data partly supported the “Sex Toy” hypothesis indicating that stone-directed tapping and rubbing onto the genital and inguinal area are sexually motivated behaviors. Our research suggests that instrumental behaviors of questionably adaptive value may be maintained over evolutionary time through pleasurable/self-rewarding mechanisms, such as those underlying playful and sexual activities.

SOURCE: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/eth.13324
 
A wanking walrus.

wanking-walrus.jpg
 
Male masturbation in primates evolved to cut chance of catching STIs
Masturbation in male primates seems to have evolved to boost reproductive success and cut the chance of getting a sexually transmitted infection, but the picture isn’t so clear for females

7 June 2023

A group of Bonobos
Bonobos indulge in a wide variety of sexual behaviour, including solo and mutual genital rubbing Nature Picture Library/Alamy
Primates have been masturbating for millions of years and the practice seems to have evolved to boost reproductive success and reduce the chances of contracting a sexually transmitted infection (STI), in males at least.

Masturbation is widely seen in mammals and is nearly ubiquitous in primates, which include apes like chimpanzees and gorillas, as well as smaller monkeys and lemurs. “Masturbation seems like an evolutionary conundrum,” says Matilda Brindle at University College London. “Why would evolution produce this seemingly non-functional and costly sexual behaviour that’s very much a solo activity?”

Brindle and her team focused on two ideas. The postcopulatory selection hypothesis says that male masturbation improves the quality of ejaculate and makes superior sperm available for fertilisation, increasing the chance of reproductive success. The pathogen avoidance hypothesis suggests that masturbation is a post-sex cleansing activity.

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To investigate, Brindle and her colleagues used nearly 400 data sources, including scientific papers and questionnaires they sent to zookeepers and primatologists, and created what they say is the largest data set of masturbation in primates.

They coupled this with the evolutionary tree of primates and the frequency of sexually transmitted pathogens in wild primates from the Global Primate Parasite Database. Where data was scant, the researchers used environmental proxies to help estimate pathogen load, because many parasites require hot, humid conditions or water to complete their life cycles.

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Statistical analysis revealed that the males and females of the most recent common ancestor of all the New World monkeys, Old World monkeys and apes were likely to be masturbators. But going further back, to the common ancestor of this line and of tarsiers, which don’t masturbate, the authors conclude that the female of this common ancestor may have masturbated but aren’t sure about the male.

“It’s important to realise that masturbation is ubiquitous throughout the primate order, in both females and males, and is practised by captive and wild-living individuals. We hope that highlighting this helps to negate damaging attitudes towards masturbation, by demonstrating that it is part of a repertoire of healthy sexual behaviours,” says Brindle.

The evidence backed both hypotheses for why masturbation evolved in male primates, finding that it gives them a better chance at reproduction and helps them prevent STIs.

On the disease front, this could be because seminal fluid has antibacterial molecules and the force of ejaculation expels pathogens from the male urethra, say the researchers.

Smaller primates, like sifakas and marmosets, clean their genitals by licking and urinating after mating. But larger primates like chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos lack the flexibility to lick their genitals, say the researchers, so they might have adopted masturbation to lower their STI risk.

The data was inconclusive for females, however, says Brindle, and it is possible that female masturbation doesn’t fit either hypothesis tested here. Masturbation in female primates doesn’t forcefully flush out pathogens. Sexual stimulation also raises the vaginal pH – which is usually in the acidic range to prevent pathogen growth – to make the environment more hospitable to expected sperm, weakening the chemical defence of the vagina.

“This is a very interesting article that sheds light on the evolutionary history of behaviours that leave no trace in the fossil record,” says Kit Opie at the University of Bristol, UK. “It’s amazing how widespread masturbation was across primates, especially monkeys and apes.”

Not knowing whether the masturbation is happening before or after sex is a limiting factor of the study, says Cyril Grueter at the University of Western Australia. If it happens to mitigate STI risk, then it should consistently happen after mating. If it serves to improve reproductive success in promiscuous groups, then it should consistently happen before mating, he says.

He suggests two other possible reasons for the practice. “Masturbation can lead to relaxation and reduced aggression, which may contribute to the maintenance of cohesion in these primate groups,” he says. “Second, those primates that have more time on their hands, maybe because they don’t have to worry about foraging, like those in zoos, may indulge more in pleasurable activities such as masturbation.”

The study did find that masturbation was more common in captive than in wild individuals.

Journal reference
 
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