January 8, 2008

I Like Monkeys

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Male macaque monkeys pay for sex by grooming females, according to a recent study that suggests the primates may treat sex as a commodity. “In primate societies, grooming is the underlying fabric of it all,” Dr. Michael Gumert, a primatologist at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said in a telephone interview Saturday.

“It’s a sign of friendship and family, and it’s also something that can be exchanged for sexual services,” Gumert said.

(link)

posted by in animals, science, sex | * | 6 comments 

comments

  1. Cindy Scroggins on January 8th, 2008 at 10:53 am

    Do you think there are monkey pimps and madams running monkey grooming parlors?

  2. Michael Grant Smith on January 8th, 2008 at 11:06 am

    Dagnabbit, Sheila. I was so totally going to post that link.

    Cindy: I like monkeys. But not that way.

  3. Cindy Scroggins on January 8th, 2008 at 11:15 am

    Monkeys are no substitute for donkeys.

  4. Sheila Ryan on January 8th, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    Here I feel compelled to toss in my judgment that the framing of animal behavior in terms of a market economy says more about the researchers’ mental constructs than it does about the animals’ behavior.

  5. Cindy Scroggins on January 8th, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    That’s true only if the animals aren’t running a business.

  6. Sheila Ryan on January 8th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    If they fail to turn a profit — what is it? — three years running. I think that’s it.


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