Homosexual Fellatio: Erect Penis Licking between Male Bonin Flying Foxes Pteropus pselaphon

Abstract

A recent focus of interest has been on the functional significance of genital licking (fellatio and cunnilingus) in relation to sexual selection in Pteropodid bats. In the present paper, a form of fellatio in wild Bonin flying foxes, Pteropus pselaphon, performed between adult males has been reported. During the mating season, adult flying foxes roost in same-sex groups, forming ball-shaped clusters which provide warmth. The female clusters may also contain a few males. Unassociated with allogrooming, same-sex genital licking occurred among males in the all male clusters. As such, male-male fellatio can be considered as homosexual behavior, two functional explanations could account for this behavior; the social bonding and the social tension regulation hypotheses suggested in a previous review. Given that neither the simpler alternative that in all male groups such fellatio may represent misdirected sexual behavior, nor the two previously proposed functional hypotheses were supported by the data, I propose another functional hypothesis. Homosexual fellatio in this species could help males solve inconsistent situations in the roost when there are conflicts between cooperative behavior for social thermoregulation and competition for mating.

The De-Scent of Sexuality: Should We Smell a Rat?

“…The experimental evidence of TRPC2 KO mice, combined with the loss of TRPC2 in frequently SSSB-exhibiting cetaceans (Harvey, Dudzinski, & Kuczaj, 2017 ; Sommer & Vasey, 2006 ; Yu et al, 2010 ) and bats (Riccucci, 2011 ; Sugita, 2016 ; Yohe et al, 2017 ), provides a reasonable basis for supposing a homologous effect in Old World monkeys and apes ( Catarrhini ) as argued by Pfau et al However, the evidence for such a connection is at present limited primarily by taxon sampling. Previous reconstructions establishing the ancestral pseudogenization of TRPC2 only assessed up to 15 species as representatives of the respective 77 extant primate genera (Liman & Innan, 2003 ; Zhang & Webb, 2003 ).…”

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).…”

An observation of homosexual fellatio in the Indian Flying Fox Pteropus medius (Temminck, 1825) (Mammalia: Chiroptera: Pteropodidae)

“…Apart from a small number of primate species, bats appear to be unique in the animal world in practising oral sex. These acts include fellatio (Tan et al 2009;Sugita 2016) and cunnilingus (Maruthupandian & Marimuthu 2013) with observations suggesting that such behaviours are usually carried out between heterosexual pairs to help improve fertilization. In addition to oral sex, bats are unusual in engaging in homosexual acts, the utility of which appear to have generated considerable discussion with no understanding yet as to why bats might engage in such sexual behaviour (Kunz & Hosken 2009).…”