page_title: Animal sexual behaviour
section_title: Non-reproductive sexual behaviour
hierarchical_section_title: Animal sexual behaviour / Types of sexual behaviour / Non-reproductive sexual behaviour
caption_attribution_description: English: A male Argentine Black and White Tegu (Salvator merianae) from an urban park in South-eastern Brazil mounts a female that has been dead for two days and attempts to mate (necrophilia). Photo by Ivan Sazima.
context_page_description: Animal sexual behaviour takes many different forms, including within the same species. Common mating or reproductively motivated systems include monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, polygamy and promiscuity. Other sexual behaviour may be reproductively motivated or non-reproductively motivated.
  When animal sexual behaviour is reproductively motivated, it is often termed mating or copulation; for most non-human mammals, mating and copulation occur at oestrus, which increases the chances of successful impregnation. Some animal sexual behaviour involves competition, sometimes fighting, between multiple males. Females often select males for mating only if they appear strong and able to protect themselves. The male that wins a fight may also have the chance to mate with a larger number of females and will therefore pass on his genes to their offspring.
  Historically, it was believed that only humans and a small number of other species performed sexual acts other than for reproduction, and that animals' sexuality was instinctive and a simple "stimulus-response" behaviour.
context_section_description: There is a range of behaviours that animals perform that appear to be sexually motivated but which can not result in reproduction. These include:
  Masturbation: Some species, both male and female, masturbate, both when partners are available and otherwise.
  Oral sex: Several species engage in both autofellatio and oral sex. This has been documented in brown bears, Tibetan macaques, wolves, goats, primates, bats, cape ground squirrels and sheep. In the greater short-nosed fruit bat, copulation by males is dorsoventral and the females lick the shaft or the base of the male's penis, but not the glans which has already penetrated the vagina. While the females do this, the penis is not withdrawn and research has shown a positive relationship between length of the time that the penis is licked and the duration of copulation. Post copulation genital grooming has also been observed.
  Homosexuality: Same-sex sexual behaviour occurs in a range of species, especially in social species, particularly in marine birds and mammals, monkeys, and the great apes. As of 1999, the scientific literature contained reports of homosexual behaviour in at least 471 wild species. Organisers of the Against Nature? exhibit stated that "homosexuality has been observed among 1,500 species, and that in 500 of those it is well documented."
  Genital-genital rubbing: This is sexual activity in which one animal rubs his or her genitals against the genitals of another animal. This is stated to be the "bonobo's most typical sexual pattern, undocumented in any other primate".
  Inter-species mating: Some animals opportunistically mate with individuals of another species.
  Sex involving juveniles: Male stoats (Mustela erminea) will sometimes mate with infant females of their species. This is a natural part of their reproductive biology—they have a delayed gestation period, so these females give birth the following year when they are fully grown. Juvenile male chimpanzees have been recorded mounting and copulating with immature chimps. Infants in bonobo societies are often involved in sexual behaviour.
  Necrophilia: This describes when an animal engages in a sexual act with a dead animal. It has been observed in mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs.
  Bisexuality: This describes when an animal shows sexual behaviour towards both males and females.
  Extended female sexuality: This is when females mate with males outside of their conceptive period.
caption: A male black and white tegu mounts a female that has been dead for two days and attempts to mate.[112]
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