Auto-fellatio behaviour observed in the Indian Palm Squirrel Funambulus palmarum (Linnaeus, 1766)

Main Article Content

Anbazhagan Abinesh
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0337-7666
C.S. Vishnu
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8686-0922
Chinnasamy Ramesh
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4629-0245

Abstract

Masturbation is an auto-sexual behaviour, a widespread phylogenetic trait in many taxa. Masturbation in squirrels was rarely reported. We observed an Indian palm squirrel  (Funambulus palmarum) doing the auto-fellatio activity away from the scurry in Bhavanisagar, Tamil Nadu. However, the auto-fellatio behaviour in F. palmarum is novel.

Article Details

Section
Notes

References

Bagemihl, B. (1999). Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity. St. Martin’s Press, New York, 751 pp.

Baker, R.R. & M.A. Bellis (1993). Human sperm competition: ejaculate adjustment by males and the function of masturbation. Animal Behaviour 46(5): 861–885. https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1993.1271

Balcombe, J.P. (2011). The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure. The University of California Press.

Bellis, M.A. (1995). Human Sperm Competition: Copulation, Masturbation and Infertility. Chapman & Hall, 353 pp.

Cenni, C., J.B. Christie, Y. van der Pant, N. Gunst, P.L. Vasey, I.N. Wandia & J.B. Leca (2022). Do monkeys use sex toys? Evidence of stone tool‐assisted masturbation in free‐ranging long‐tailed macaques. Ethology 128: 632–646. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13324

Nowak, R.M. (1999). Walker’s Mammals of the World (Volume 1), 6th Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1936 pp.

Prasad, M.R.N. (1951). Changes in the reproductive organs of the male palm squirrel, Funambulus palmarum palmarum (Linn.). Journal of Mysore University 11: 89–105.

Roth, L., P. Briken & J. Fuss (2022). Masturbation in the animal kingdom. The Journal of Sex Research 60(6): 786–798. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2022.2044446

Schwartz, S. (1999). Use of cyproheptadine to control urine spraying and masturbation in a cat. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 214(3): 369–371.

Thomsen, R. & V. Sommer (2015). Masturbation (nonhuman primates). The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality 3: 721–817. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs289

Thomsen, R., J. Soltis & C. Teltscher (2003). Sperm competition and the function of male masturbation in non-human primates. In: Jones, C.B. (ed.). Sexual selection and reproductive competition in primates: new perspectives and directions. ASP-Book Series, Special Topics in Primatology: New perspectives and Directions 3: 436–453.

Waterman, J.M. (2010). The adaptive function of masturbation in a promiscuous African ground squirrel. PLoS One 5(9): e13060. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0013060

Most read articles by the same author(s)