A Nature Communications paper suggests same-sex activity may help mammals’ social relationships.
A study published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday adds to the growing body of knowledge about animal sexuality. A new paper suggests one explanation: Same-sex sexual activity may help mammals establish and maintain social relationships and even mitigate conflict.Scientists had long viewed same-sex sexual activity as an evolutionary paradox: It costs animals precious time they could be spending seeking out sexual partners of the opposite sex, with which they could reproduce.
Webb said if you think about the many reasons humans might have sex — it makes sense that animals would use sex in many ways, too.“We know that humans have a huge variety of reasons for having sex, only one of which is procreation,” said Eliot Schrefer, author of the book “Animals and humans are shifting how they select mates as greenhouse emissions raise global temperatures and warm our world.
Jon Richardson, a behavioral ecologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Minnesota, researches same-sex sexual behavior in insects. He said that often we’re looking for a one-size-fits-all explanation for this behavior in nature. In his research on crickets, he’s found that they have a fairly broad filter for engaging in mating behavior.
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