Fellatio in captive brown bears: Evidence of long‐term effects of suckling deprivation?

Abstract

Sexually stimulating behaviors that are not linked to reproduction are rare among non-human (especially non-primate) mammals. Such behaviors may have a function in the hierarchy of social species. In solitary species, such behaviors are more enigmatic, and possibly indicative of something abnormal. Here, we report on a case of two male brown bears, raised in captivity since being orphaned as cubs, which engaged in recurrent fellatio multiple times per day until at least 10 years old. The roles of provider and receiver in the act remained unchanged, and the behavior itself became highly ritualized. The provider always initiated the contact involving vigorous penile sucking that appeared to result in ejaculation. We suggest that the behavior began as a result of early deprivation of maternal suckling, and persisted through life, possibly because it remained satisfying for both individuals. This constitutes the first descriptive report of fellatio in bears, and suggests that some bears may suffer lifelong behavioral consequences from being orphaned at an early age.

Fellatio among male sanctuary-living chimpanzees during a period of social tension

“…In this report, we described an instance of same-sex fellatio occurring between two sanctuary-living adult male chimpanzees. Although fellatio has been observed in other mammals (Ogawa, 2006;Tan et al, 2009;Sergiel et al, 2014;Sugita, 2016), including captive/semi-captive bonobos (de Waal, 1988; Clay, personal observation) and chimpanzees (Heesen, personal communication) it has not yet been reported among adult chimpanzees during social tension, with two previous reports noting the occurrence of oralgenital contact among play in immature chimpanzees (Savage & Malick, 1977;Savage-Rumbaugh & Wilkerson, 1978). Moreover, while bonobos habitually engage in diverse same-sex sexual behaviour, fellatio appears to be rare and constrained to play contexts involving immatures (de Waal, 1988;Clay, personal observation).…”

Spider behaviors include oral sexual encounters

“…While fellatio-like behaviors were observed in several mammal groups, e.g. macaques, lemurs, bonobos, hyenas, cheetahs, lions, dolphins and bats 30 31 , cunnilingus-like behaviors are rarer still. In birds, dunnock males peck out rival male’s sperm from the female cloaca 32 and among mammals, cunnilingus-like behaviors have been observed in bonobos and have been demonstrated to play an important role in mating of fruit bats 33 .…”

Precopulatory oral sex contact plays an important role in copulatory success in a cryptic desert beetle

“…It marks a distinct diversion from precopulatory oral sexual behavior between different sexes. Others have reported fellatio‐like activities in many mammal animals, such as bats, macaques, cheetahs, lemurs, hyenas, lions, dolphins, and bonobos (Maruthupandian & Marimuthu, 2013 ; Sergiel et al., 2014 ). Descriptions of precopulatory oral sexual contact in invertebrates remain rare.…”