Why do non-human animals masterbate?

[mad_scientist]

What evolutionary advantage did this give the animals of this planet?

What proportion of the animals which exist today, do not masterbate at all in their natural environments?

[Area54]

One might well imagine if sexual desire were reduced to the level necessary to eliminate the tendency to masturbate that it would be insufficient to encourage procreation.

I have no idea as to the answer to your second question, but it has got me pondering on just exactly how a clam would masturbate.

[Phi for All]

!

Moderator Note

Moved to Biology from The Lounge.

 

[DrP]

2 hours ago, mad_scientist said:

What evolutionary advantage did this give the animals of this planet?

Idk - but I can speculate that it brings relief and reduces stress?  Like your anal sex thread...  it is the same - sex can be quite soothing and emotionally 'healing' for want of a better word...  I don't want to come across as a new age hippy!  lol.    I also read somewhere recently that regular ejaculation can help keep things flowing and ward off prostrate problems...  not sure how true that is but it if so then it would certainly be an advantage seeing as there are so many male adults that have them.  With respect to women though, they just look lovely when they do it, so I guess that makes them more attractive and exiting for a man and thus could help attract a mate? 

take these 2 senarios... 1)  Bill walks in on Anne...  she is drinking a cup of tea,,,   "Hi Anne"  He says....  "Hi Bill" she replies...

Now take this one..   2) Bill walks in on Mary and finds her enthusiastically masturbating...  "Hiiii  there Mary!!!..  ;-)"...   "you look so hot like that honey  -  need a hand"? He says with a glint in his eye - excited although a little embarrassed to have walked in on her sorting herself out.  "Oh GOSH!  BILL!..  I'm so sorry...."  She says embarrassed... Bill continues with something like "shhh.. honey,it's OK!"  and slides over beside her....     "er...  oh, OK then" she says coyly...   then they get it on.

Which scenario give the evolutionary advantage for reproduction?  ;-) 

 

Edited September 9, 2017 by DrP
question mark added / some grammar corrected.

[Thorham]

They probably masturbate for the same (or similar) reasons we do.

[DrP]

On ‎10‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 8:33 PM, Thorham said:

They probably masturbate for the same (or similar) reasons we do.

Because they can't get a girlfriend?  

[zapatos]

On 9/9/2017 at 11:10 AM, mad_scientist said:

What evolutionary advantage did this give the animals of this planet?

 

Not all actions confer evolutionary advantage. Watching old Abbot and Costello movies on Netflix for example...

 

 

[DrP]

3 minutes ago, zapatos said:

Not all actions confer evolutionary advantage. Watching old Abbot and Costello movies on Netflix for example...

Who would you invite over to watch it with you...  Anne, Mary or Bill?   ;-)

[dylrovertson]

Funny question.

Just learned that animals (non-human) can be gay, masterbate and can preform oral on one another. You learn something new everyday...

[DrP]

1 minute ago, dylrovertson said:

Just learned that animals (non-human) can be gay, masterbate and can preform oral on one another. You learn something new everyday...

I know that was for educational purposes, but I think you might want to delete your search history just the same. ;-)

It seems amazing, but why should we really expect other mammals to be that different to us? We all came from the same place.

[Kylo RenSkins]

On Wednesday, September 20, 2017 at 4:39 AM, dylrovertson said:

Funny question.

Just learned that animals (non-human) can be gay, masterbate and can preform oral on one another. You learn something new everyday...

The first time I ever heard about homosexuality among animals was on South Park.  I thought it was something that they made up for a gag until one of my science teachers said yeah it does happen in real life.