Frequency of sexual life in the animal world?

Question

I have come across an interesting statement on the net. It is said in
one article that according to etology (the science studying the behavoral patterns of animals, around 90% of wild animals have never had sexual intercourse. It sounds stunning but perhaps someone could either support or oppose to this statement.

Actually, it was an article about human relations, and this statistics was presented by a psychologist just to introduce the main topic. However, it seemd quite interesting to me. So, I decided to clarify the matter. Let us see what other people think. Most probably, there is some grain of truth in what the first helper said that if the mammals are the only ones having sexual intercours in our traditional perception, probably, they constitute only a small percentage of all the animals inhabiting the world. Perhaps, their percentage is really around 10. This might be the explanation. Yet, I expect to see some other opinions. Maybe you have more info :)

Thank you for the link. I'll check it out.

Answer 1

That doesn't sound right, if they're talking about critters that have sexual intercourse at all (as opposed to procreating other ways).

I would think that most females have, as males aren't all that choosy about where they donate their sperm.

Too bad you don't say where you got this. I mean, besides "the net" -- oh, THERE, that tiny place.

;-)

Unless it's more a comment on life expectancy, saying that most critters die before they have a chance to, well, you know.

So, where'd you come across this tidbit, what animals are included in the statistic, and why would this be?

(I'll check back in hopes you respond.)

Edit: You may (if you're interested enough) want to troll around newscientist.com and similar sites. New Scientist is the UK's version of Scientific American -- the site has science news, and search facility (though you have to pay to access everything, they do have a lot available for non-subscribers).

I may give it a go next time I'm there.

Trouble is, coming from a non-expert (that is, a psychologist), I wonder if this is one of those non-facts that gets picked up and repeated and is completely wrong.

Though, if you include all animals, including insects, then maybe. Relatively few bees and ants, for example, have sex, and they'd account for a big proportion of "all animals."

In which case it's completely irrelevant to a discussion of human sexuality.

Answer 2

The only ones who really have a chance in most mammal species are alpha males. Either that or it's another piece of abtainance-promoting propaganda.

Answer 3

It's probably true! Think back about the wild animals you have seen. How many of them would YOU have intercourse with?Hmm? I rest my case.