Simply Dumb

Paying for Sex: Monkeys Do it Too

by Ariel on January 6th, 2008

This just seems all too appropriate now that I have just finished watching the entire original Planet of the Apes movie series on AMC.  According to researchers examining macaque monkeys in Indonesia, some males "pay" their mates for sex by grooming.

Apparently the likelihood that a female would have sex with a male was increased by about three fold on average compared with the absense of grooming.  The response of most men would be, so what?  How is this any different than buttering up your partner with roses, a backrub, or chocolate?  Admit it, men do these things all the time and no one really calls it paying for sex.

So here’s the kicker.  Grooming was demonstrated to be a market commodity when it was observed that males were more likely to groom females for longer when there were fewer females in the area.  That’s simple supply and demand dynamics: a lower supply means a larger demand and therefore a higher price.

One researcher had this to say: "[T]he mating market seems to have an influence on the amount of this fee," meaning that monkeys are capable of adjusting their sexual behavior to "different market conditions."  Clever monkeys I guess; world domination is not far behind! hehe.

source Tags: dumb news, paying for sex, macaque monkeys, indonesia, planet of the apes

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POSTED IN: Dumb Animals, Dumb Pictures, Dumb Science, Funny