Jason Goldman of IO9, asks
Why Are These Bears Having Oral Sex? Goldman tells us that zookeepers and researchers have seen captive bears having oral sex before but "those bears were living in sub-standard conditions, with inadequate mental stimulation," and this was thought to perhaps be "a marker of stress rather than pleasure."
But, now in a paper just published in Zoo Biology, scientist have reported "the first observations of long‐term, recurrent fellatio in captive brown bears kept in proper conditions," creating a great mystery - why would happy well cared for bears do this?
The baffled scientists set up watch stations and kept records:
Over 116 hours of observations were conducted over the course of six years, by a group of researchers led by Agnieszka Sergiel of the Polish Academy of Sciences Department of Wildlife Conservation. They recorded 28 instances of oral sex between the two bears, both male, who lived together in a sanctuary in Croatia. They write:
All cases appeared to be initiated by the provider, who approached the receiver while he was resting on his side or with part of his abdomen exposed. If the receiver's genitals were not exposed, the provider would push his head into the pelvic region or use his paws to separate the hind legs. After accessing and initial licking of the penis, the provider would find a more comfortable posture, such as sitting or lying…once actual sucking started, neither bear changed position
Each interaction lasted between one and four minutes.
The leading theory seems to be that these bears were brought to this sanctuary when they were very young, perhaps before they had been weaned from their mothers. So Sergiel explains how this early deprivation may have lead the bears to seek out alternatives.
Orphaned bear cubs may suck their own or their sibling's body parts, such as paws or ears, as a substitute for their mother's nipples. They may even suckle body parts of a human caregiver... Forced early‐weaning and subsequent deprivation of proper and sufficient stimulation of the suckling reflex can result in teat‐searching behavior persisting into adulthood, for example, belly nosing in domesticated pigs, or cross‐sucking in artificially reared calves housed in groups separated from their mothers. In the case reported here, the provider may have found a substitute for teat‐sucking that also resulted in a let‐down of substitute "milk."
Well, this is one theory. But, no matter how many times researchers watch these video tapes over and over again, the odd behavior just doesn't seem to make sense. (Hunor alert.) This is a really hard mystery to figure out. Sometimes experiments just do not come out the way we wish.
This seems plausible. Two of our three kitties came to us at a very young age, and they are constantly "kneading" on Gina, who explains this is part of suckling behavior-instinct for young kittens. This behavior makes greatly humorous kitty-massage videos which I will include in an update. Please feel free to add videos or pix of your own favorite odd animal behaviors.
The scientists did not report if they plan to broaden their research to include human subjects. I'm not aware of any research to suggest that people who were prematurely weened from breast feeding, or the bottle, are overly pre-occupied with oral sex, but this is not my area of expertise. Perhaps, our readers can weigh in?
Here is the abstract from the scientific publication in Zoo Biology for those who wish to delve into this mystery more deeply.
Fellatio in captive brown bears: Evidence of long-term effects of suckling deprivation?
Agnieszka Sergiel1,*, Robert Maślak2, Andreas Zedrosser3,4, Łukasz Paśko2, David L. Garshelis5, Slaven Reljić6 andDjuro Huber6
Article first published online: 4 JUN 2014
DOI: 10.1002/zoo.21137
Issue Cover image for Vol. 33 Issue 3
Zoo Biology
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. Zoo Biol. XX:XX–XX, 2014. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
5:10 PM PT: Finally, someone found a way to make cats useful.
What explains these odd animals behaviors?