Animal non-reproductive sexual behavior encompasses sexual activities that animals participate in which do not lead to the reproduction of the species. Although procreation continues to be the primary explanation for sexual behavior in animals, recent observations on animal behaviors have given alternative reasons for the engagement in sexual activities by animals. Animals have been observed to engage in sex for social interaction, bonding, exchange for significant materials, affection, mentorship pairings, sexual enjoyment, or as demonstration of social rank. Observed non-procreative sexual activities include non-copulatory mounting (without insertion, or by a female, or by a younger male who does not yet produce semen), oral sex, genital stimulation, anal stimulation, interspecies mating, same-sex sexual interaction, and acts of affection, although it is doubted that they have done this since the beginning of their existence. There have also been observations of sex with cub participants, as well as sex with dead animals.
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Non-reproductive sexual behavior in animals in the context of Animal sexual behavior
Animal sexual behaviour takes many different forms, including within the same species. Common mating or reproductively motivated systems include monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, polygamy and promiscuity. Other sexual behaviour may be reproductively motivated (e.g. sex apparently due to duress or coercion and situational sexual behaviour) or non-reproductively motivated (e.g. homosexual sexual behaviour, bisexual sexual behaviour, cross-species sex, sexual arousal from objects or places, sex with dead animals, etc.).
When animal sexual behaviour is reproductively motivated, it is often termed mating or copulation; for most non-human mammals, mating and copulation occur at oestrus (the most fertile period in the mammalian female's reproductive cycle), which increases the chances of successful impregnation. Some animal sexual behaviour involves competition, sometimes fighting, between multiple males. Females often select males for mating only if they appear strong and able to protect themselves. The male that wins a fight may also have the chance to mate with a larger number of females and will therefore pass on his genes to their offspring.