Fun and sexy Halloween science: The oral sex habits of fruit bats [The More You Know]

Other than people and a couple other primates, not a whole lot of other animals like going down on each other. But fruit bats do, apparently, and this habit has been recently studied to find out more not about not only the mating habits of fruit bats, but the possible evolutionary advantages to oral sex in genital general.

From io9:

Min Tan of China's Guangdong Entomological Institute recorded and carefully observed the mating habits of 60 fruit bats she captured in the wild. To her surprise, she found that, in 70 percent of the sexual encounters, the female bat would lick the shaft of her partner's penis. This makes fruit bats the only known species besides humans to engage in regular fellatio.

So why are these bats so batty for fellatio? Tan has a few theories. For one thing, sexual encounters that involved oral stimulation lasted, on average, 100 seconds longer than those that didn't, something that could be conducive to fertilization. Or the female bat could be occupying her mate for as long as possible so that a rival female doesn't snatch him away. The reasons could also be hygenic, as male bats lick their own penises after sex to clear away bacteria and fungi. Or, she could be looking for chemicals that indicate whether the male is a suitable mate, so that she knows whether to reject his sperm or look for a better partner next time around.

Fruit bat sex!


paulywog's picture

Do bats give each other

Do bats give each other facials too?

More asians please.

ishldgetoutmore's picture

Sexist?

So, the females give the males pleasure, but she didn't record any males returning the favor?

I have to mention that to my GF next time; maybe she'll appreciate my scientific rationale for preferring it...

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