Fruit Bats utilizing fellatio to extend copulation – yes, you read the title correctly. Tonight, surfing safely along the internet, I was presented with a Google search result which was entitled “Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolong Copulation Time.” Of course my curiosity got the best of me, as it should anyone, so I clicked through.

So get this — four, not one, but four Chinese researchers are listed on this report regarding the ability of the female Fruit Bat to perform fellatio on the base of the male Fruit Bat’s genitalia in order to extend their copulation time.

Oral sex is widely used in human foreplay, but rarely documented in other animals. Fellatio has been recorded in bonobos Pan paniscus, but even then functions largely as play behaviour among juvenile males. The short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus sphinx exhibits resource defence polygyny and one sexually active male often roosts with groups of females in tents made from leaves. Female bats often lick their mate’s penis during dorsoventral copulation. The female lowers her head to lick the shaft or the base of the male’s penis but does not lick the glans penis which has already penetrated the vagina. Males never withdrew their penis when it was licked by the mating partner. A positive relationship exists between the length of time that the female licked the male’s penis during copulation and the duration of copulation. Furthermore, mating pairs spent significantly more time in copulation if the female licked her mate’s penis than if fellatio was absent. Males also show postcopulatory genital grooming after intromission. At present, we do not know why genital licking occurs, and we present four non-mutually exclusive hypotheses that may explain the function of fellatio in C. sphinx.

I don’t know what more can be said about the need for increased research for studies like this one. If the human species could replicate this behavior – wouldn’t the world be a better place?

Here’s the findings of this research:

We found that female short-nosed fruit bats C. sphinx lick their mate’s penis regularly during copulation, and that each second of licking results in approximately 6 extra seconds of copulation. Copulations also last longer if licking occurs than when no licking takes place. Our observations are the first to show regular fellatio in adult animals other than humans.

The duration of copulation in C. sphinx (100–300 s) is much longer than in the Indian flying fox P. giganteus (30–40 s), and the hammer-headed bat H. monstrosus (30–60 s) [4], [7]. The Indian flying fox and the hammer-headed bat were studied in the field however, and male-male competition in colonies may reduce copulation time. Bats may also shorten copulation time to reduce predation risk in the field, especially if vigilance is reduced during copulation.

Sounds so technical, right?

And that my friends, is my final blog post for 2011. Goodbye 2011, it’s been fun, but a new year is only a few hours away.. bringing new opportunities and possibilities for even more life, fun and enjoyment.

Source: PLoS ONE
Image Credit: San Diego Zoo

More Charts and Graphs from the Study