Reddit mentions of Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (Stonewall Inn Editions (Paperback))

need is very hard to prove. it's hard enough to show that it's a vital thing for humans.

however, there are critters that are known to masturbate in a recognizable way. both varieties of chimp, dolphins, other primates and supposedly dogs.

now, the bonobo chimp is much more known for their sexual behavior and it is certainly a huge part of their social structure. they're not just close to humans genetically, their sexual behaviors mirror ours very closely. enough so that I would call their masturbation a necessary part of their life.

but the more standard chimp also masturbates. and it seems to fill a similar role as their smaller cousins and ourselves.

all species of ape have been observed masturbating, depending on exactly how tightly you define it. ejaculation isn't always involved for males, and orgasm isn't always visible if it's happening for females. but the behavior is there.

the same can be said of pretty much all the monkeys as well.

so for primates, I feel confident in saying yes, they do need to masturbate and appear to enjoy it.

dolphins are hard to peg down. without hands, their masturbation isn't what we would normally recognize as such. but they do engage in auto erotic behaviors. they'll also pretty much hump anything they want to lol. is it masturbation? I'd say so. it seems to be done for pleasure and can involve orgasm/ejaculation. I exclude their habit of trying to have sex with other species and only invoked the "humping"of inanimate objects. I've heard that some professionals consider their proclivity to hump other animals a form of masturbation rather than a true sexual attempt though.

dogs though. they're more difficult. the behavior seems to be limited to males for one thing. and it's pretty much oral only and doesn't involve ejaculation. there's also no conclusive way to say it's done for pleasure, and it doesn't involve ejaculation. so, is it masturbation? myself, I say no. but there's disagreement about that even among real experts.

beyond that, there's a few types of avians that seem to do things that might be masturbation. I haven't seen any research into that part of things though.

if you check out Biologic Exuberance you'll find some info on masturbation like behaviors. it's not the actual purpose of the book, but it covers some relevant data.

as far as I know, there aren't any easily accessible books on the subject as a whole. you'd have to dig for publications by specialists doing studies on the various genera and species. it's out there to be sure, but it's almost always buried under other information. masturbation isn't really something that most scientists are going to put forward as a significant data point when they publish. so you'll find maybe a line or two where they mention genital self stimulation and that's all.

I guess to sum up, I'd say that when a species does masturbate, it seems to be a fairly important part of their behaviors.

In my teaching I talk about this a lot! Same-sex sexual behavior is REALLY common in non-human animals (common meaning seen in a lot of species; there are not as many, but still quite a few, species where it is commonly seen among populations). Check out Biological Exuberance for a VERY long laundry list of species where these behaviors have been observed.

I make it a point to lecture on this in my classes because it's a topic that's always of interest, and it's an interesting case study in the limits of scientific inquiry and evolutionary thought (how does something evolve if it potentially limits reproductive output? how do we come up with a biological definition of same-sex sexual behavior that can be systematized for genetics/cognition/etc?).

When people say that homosexuality is not "natural", I generally ask them what they mean by "natural", and then go from their own definition to break down the misunderstanding. If it's based on the idea that animals don't do it in nature, I gladly give them a small sampling of the laundry list :) It's been observed in so many natural populations (including humans! we are still existing in nature, even if modified!) that this argument just doesn't hold water.

I'll leave this here for you. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00846WZ5A/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504649525&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=natural+exuberance

Well heres a book by a scientist about it https://www.amazon.com/Biological-Exuberance-Homosexuality-Diversity-Stonewall-ebook/dp/B00846WZ5A