Slate reports on animal onanism
Slate's culture editor John Swansburg says,Hands or Paws or Anything They GotMasturbation in the animal kingdom.Just posted an article by my colleague Dan Engber on the subject of animal masturbation. It turns out that onanism has been observed throughout the animal kingdom: dogs do it, cats do it, horses do it, turtles do it, birds love to do it. Some moose can even bring themselves to sexual climax by just rubbing their antlers on a tree (!).
Dan's article explores the scientific explanations for why animals might have evolved this behavior. There's also an accompanying video slide show -- it turns out folks are very fond of posting footage of their frisky pets, or of the strange activity they saw a koala enjoying at the zoo...
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