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That isn't actually what the author claims. Lots of other animals masturbate, and the author admits that monkeys are certainly prone to it. What he claims makes humans unusual is the we masturbate to orgasm.

Incidentally you chose fairly poor examples for animal homosexuality. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals for a list of other examples you could use. For instance I prefer to cite giraffes (9 out of 10 sexual encounters are homosexual) and black swans (1/4 preferentially homosexual).

I wonder what fraction of human sexual encounters are homosexual? There's the old studies the fundamentalist Christians like to trot out where 28% of the gay interviewees reported more than a thousand lifetime sexual partners, while I suspect the median number of lifetime sexual partners across the adult US population is somewhere around 10. So it wouldn't be terribly surprising if the majority of human sexual encounters were between members of the same (male) sex.

In the modern West, major studies indicate a prevalence of homosexuality of 2% to 13% of the population[1]. On any given day 4% of the population has sex[2]. That means that in order for same-gender sex to outnumber straight sex, every day between a third and all of the homosexual population would need to have sex[3]. Somehow I doubt this is the case.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality

[2] http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/geographyo...

[3] I know I'm completely ignoring people who aren't reportedly homosexual having same-gender sex, but I assume the studies Wikipedia cites account for people who are in-between to some extent, and that the one-off same-gender experiences are negligible compared to the overall population. It's not perfect math!

The thing is, these distributions are very skewed. A non-gender-or-orientation-specific given person can go for two weeks without having sex and then have sex ten or twenty times in a weekend-long speed-fueled orgy (or so the stories go), and that still averages out to 0.7 to 1.4 times a day.

So it's kind of a sticky subject. It can be really hard to get your arms around all the issues. What's the relative frequency of Viagra and amphetamine usage among gay and straight people? Of group sex? How about among the most sexually active 20% of each group? Nobody has a fucking clue.

However, I have a strong suspicion that getting laid a couple of times a day isn't that hard if you're a gay man in a major world city, especially in the age if Grindr and iTrick.

I don't get it ... what makes gay men be so successful in finding sex partners?

Young women have an easy time finding sex partners too. The vast majority of young men will say yes if a young female stranger asks them to have sex, unless there's something visibly wrong with her, or they're in a monogamous relationship, or they're gay.

The situation for young gay men is similar to the situation for young het women, except that they're more inclined to take advantage of the opportunity to have sex with strangers.

Men generally are more open to casual sex than women.

When both sides are easily convinced, it happens a lot more.

1000 sounds like a reasonable number here you have George Michael going to a park and hooking up with random people. http://www.celebitchy.com/1243/george_michael_has_sex_with_r... the guys go to the park to have sex with random guys hence how the other fellow was there too. I believe some some software offered by one of the YC companies is most used for same-sex hooking up. But I am speaking from a point of jelousy as it would be nice to have such a hetrosexual culture without a monetary exchange.

But I am speaking from a point of jelousy as it would be nice to have such a hetrosexual culture without a monetary exchange.

So, uh, we do. It's called dogging[1].

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogging_(sexual_slang)

Most of us don't have any particular interest in pushing up the numbers. Further, the GLBT population and the straight population call different things sex. Depending on the definition, I've either had sex with hundreds of people (including mutual masturbation and making out, or strictly oral sex) or fewer than 10. (penetration)

I know, TMI. However, think about what it would be like if a society found it socially acceptable for heterosexual couples to make out and mutually masturbate casually. The barrier would likely be lower.

I believe the normal idea that sex is penetration. 1000 of course is probably not usual but might be possible with some effort.

It seems like these examples are given to "excuse" human homosexual behavior ("See! It's perfectly natural. Look at the Giraffes!"). I don't have a strong opinion about human homosexual behavior but I do think these examples are meaningless for this intention. Giraffes are probably too dumb, too horny and too indifferent to care about gender or anything. They see a sexual opportunity and they take it. I speculate that if they did know the difference and had the opportunity with members of both genders that they would choose the opposite sex. (Actually it looks like males are doing all of the choosing). I am not saying that this is the point you were going to make, but it does seem to be what most people think about after this topic.

Some may do that, but I personally have no desire to excuse human homosexual behavior. If you can't accept that people have the right to do whatever they want that hurts nobody else, then I'm not going to change you.

However I take great delight in correcting bigots who make the mistake of claiming that homosexuality is a perversion that is only found in humans. And somehow I never seem to find a shortage of those.

About giraffes, you may be right. My impression is that they spend a lot of time not high enough in the hierarchy to get females, so when their sex drive leads them to fight giraffes they can beat, the only outlet for their sex drive is the fellow they just beat.

However black swans show an example of animal homosexuality where the animal has a choice, and actively chooses homosexual behavior.

I would not say it is a "perversion" and I wouldn't try to use "natural" in the animal kingdom way. I would say that the male body is not made/constructed/evolved (however you want to say that) for that kind of sexual contact. In that sense it is not a "natural" act.

You've never discovered the magic of the prostate.

</reddit>

Seriously, though, what purpose does the prostate have to have such nerve bundles? Sometimes, evolutionary pressures don't explain everything. Some things are just chance.

If you think animals are that dumb you are mistaken. We have a cock (= adult male chicken) who is very aggressive, but only against human males. So if chickens can recognize the gender of other species, then I'm pretty sure that a giraffe can recognize the gender of one of its own species.

I don't mean to imply that ignorance is the cause of their homosexuality! Only that Giraffes are mostly indifferent to gender relative to their "horny-ness" (is there a better word I could use?) which is far different than human homosexuality.

/"horny-ness" (is there a better word I could use?)/

-> level of sexual arousal

Leave it up to me to transform a perfectly understandable and conversational word into something abstract and clinical ;)

Not dumb...some animals are rather smart. I am willing to bet that humans have the most emotionally complex system though.

If you could come up with a definition, that claim may have some content.

E.g. should the (sexual or otherwise) behaviour of ants or ant hills be classified as emotional?

> "I think the claims that humans masturbate more than any other animal and that chimps are unable to fantasize dubious"

In addition to skepticism due other masturbating animals, there's the question of human child masturbation. Anyone who's had children can vouch that they're rubbing the parts that feel good well before they're expressing complex ideas, let alone thinking sexually.

And, FWIW, I believe homosexuality has been well documented in every sexual species that's been well documented.

> Another fun fact: homosexual behavior has been well documented in both the Bonobo and koalas, an interesting counterpoint to fundamentalists claims that homosexuality isn't natural. :)

You didn't mention some things from your link like, The furry, eucalyptus-eating creatures appear to develop this tendency for same-sex liaisons when they are in captivity. In the wild, they remain heterosexual.

What's natural about captivity?

I hasten to point out that humans, in captivity, tend to engage in more homosexual behavior as well.

Perhaps it's not wildly unnatural factors but rather plain old boredom?

In the video, that's an ape with a frog. Not a monkey. Show some respect :)

one of the few species that have been observed to participate in oral sex.

There's also the notorious example of bats.

My hypothesis: humans who visit Hacker News masturbate even more often.