Are you aware of any non-human animal species that indulges in recreational sex? What about 'make-up' sex?

Question

Sex as a means of reinforcing the bond between individual society members?

Ikdragn: you are missing one non-humate primate species on your list.

Insomniac Butterfly: you got it. It pays to be an insomniac.

But do dolphins actually engage in make-up sex?

Insomniac - bonobo's and chimps are an entirely different great ape species. However, these are our closet primate family members.

Answer 1

bonobo chimpanzees do it for fun and have fun doing it: http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-War-Ape-The-Sex-Ape-69208.shtml

I wouldn't want to be a common chimp tho...

Answer 2

Dolphins and bonobos spring readily to mind as species.

Individuals amongst other species may also do so -- as another respondent mentioned some dogs are very "self-indulgent focused". Dogs have observable erotic dreams and together with cats, not all of that licking is purely preening and cleaning.
Many other domesticated animals may sometimes be seen to exhibit such behaviour -- but this could be because of their ready observability.

When ovulation occurs, mating isn't necessarily mindlessly engaged in with the first partner. I've observed cows resisting multiple attentions until they had their preferred bull available.
Additionally I've seen cows who are frequently available to all overtures beyond standard "heat" cycles. Also I've noted normally competitive bulls unite in predatory gang behaviour with individual cows and cows collectively banding to deny a given bull.

.Beyond popular species (to us humans) like the higher primates and cetaceans, possibly little research has been done on wild animals as it can't be exploited somehow. Domesticated animals often have their sex provision disrupted or regulated by humans for our personal or commercial convenience.

All this tends to suggest, to me anyway, that some animals have highly attuned attitudes toward mating and this may involve recreational pursuits

Answer 3

Recreational sex, sex which is performed for pleasure and not solely procreational purposes, is only found in humans and dolphins. At least, as far as science has been able to determine at this point. All other species only engage in sexual relations in order to propagate.

Kinda makes one happy to be a human...

Answer 4

Dolphins

Answer 5

Good question! And it inspires me to think of another...do any non-human animal species show "arrogance" or "pride"? Or are these traits unique to only humans?

(No, I don't know why your question made me think of this, it just did.)

And no, I can't think of any species that engages in recreational sex...though my mother's dog does have a "special fondness" for an old large stuffed teddy bear....he just won't "leave it alone" ...if you get my drift.

Answer 6

I read (and posted in a question as a trivia) that dolphins do engage in recreational sex (which basically means that they have coitus during non-fertile periods).