Primate sex and its role in pleasure, dominance and communication

© 2022 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233301Sexual intercourse in the animal kingdom functions to enable reproduction. However, we now know that several species of non-human primates regularly engage in sex outside of the times when conception is possible. In addition, homosexual and immature sex are not as uncommon as were once believed. This suggests that sex also has important functions outside of reproduction, yet these are rarely discussed in sex-related teaching and research activities concerning primate behaviour. Is the human sexual experience, which includes pleasure, dominance, and communication (among others) unique, or do other primates also share these experiences to any extent? If so, is there any way to measure them, or are they beyond the rigour of scientific objectivity? What would be the evolutionary implications if human-like sexual experiences were found amongst other animals too? We comment on the evidence provided by our close relatives, non-human primates, discuss the affective and social functions of sex, and suggest potential methods for measuring some of these experiences empirically. We hope that this piece may foster the discussion among academics and change the way we think about, teach and research primate sex.Support for this paper came from a COFUND/Durham University Junior Research Fellowship awarded to E.C. (Grant Agreement Number: 609412) and a Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship awarded to S.V. (Grant Agreement Number: PIEF-GA-2012-327083) within the 7th European Community Framework Programme. Publication fees were funded by the University of Wolverhampton’s Research Investment Fund (RIF) scheme – Phase 4 to S.V.Published onlin