Where does the desire to mate come from?

bobcat said:
Well, it seems that nature offers up a bit of a bribe to assure reproduction (That being obtaining some degree of pleasure from it). This seems easy to understand for those species who actually make physical contact during copulation, but fish and some other creatures don't, so how does ejecting one's eggs or sperm into a stream or the ocean bring about any pleasure? It's not like we can ask them "So, how was it for you"?

How do some species get their kicks? Is there always a neurological reward, or is it just something they gotta do, so let's get on with it. Salmon literally beat themselves to death to get to their love nest, and let's face it, Salmon Sex can't be all that great, and they certainly don't look their best for this romantic rendezvous after the road trip.

It's not like any of these species have a credible understanding that they must do this for the survival of the species. How could they know that? It just seems built in. Turtles just lay their eggs in the sand, cover them up, and split. It's not like they're ever going to get a trophy mug that says "Best Mom Ever".

Still, nature seems hell bent on having kids, so something mysterious is going on there. Many animals don't get flowers, or chocolates, or even a courtesy thank you, and from what I can observe, male animals aren't often polished lovers, so apparently being "In season" causes more discomfort than the act. What a predicament.
Click to expand...
I put this whole post into perplexity.ai...

Well,

Nature's drive for reproduction is deeply ingrained in animal behavior, but the role of pleasure varies across species. For many animals, neurological rewards like dopamine and oxytocin provide motivation and reinforcement for mating behaviors, especially in mammals and birds[1][4][7]. In species like primates, sexual pleasure is well-documented and can even serve social functions, such as bonding or dominance[9][10].

For fish and other species with external fertilization, the experience of pleasure is less clear. While fish respond to sensory cues like pheromones and visual stimuli to trigger spawning, there is no definitive evidence that they experience pleasure akin to mammals. Hormonal and neural mechanisms likely drive their behavior without requiring a subjective sense of enjoyment[2][5].

In many cases, reproduction is instinctual rather than consciously understood. Animals are "programmed" by evolution to prioritize reproduction through innate behaviors, often without awareness of its purpose. For example, salmon endure extreme physical hardship to spawn, driven by hormonal changes rather than any concept of future offspring[2][5]. Similarly, turtles lay eggs and leave without parental involvement because their reproductive success depends on sheer numbers rather than nurturing care.

Ultimately, while some animals may experience pleasure as a "bribe" for reproduction, others are simply compelled by biological imperatives.

Citations:
[1] Copulation (zoology) - Wikipedia Copulation (zoology) - Wikipedia
[2] Neural and hormonal mechanisms of reproductive-related arousal in ... Neural and hormonal mechanisms of reproductive-related arousal in fishes - PMC
[3] Women and Economics. - UPenn Digital Library Women and Economics.
[4] Exploring sexual activity in animals - Rosewell Exploring sexual activity in animals
[5] Do fish enjoy reproducing? | Science Questions - The Naked Scientists Do fish enjoy reproducing?
[6] Aelian, Characteristics of Animals - ToposText ToposText
[7] Animal sexual behaviour - Wikipedia Animal sexual behaviour - Wikipedia
[8] Fish reproduction - Wikipedia Fish reproduction - Wikipedia
[9] Primate Sex and Its Role in Pleasure, Dominance and Communication Primate Sex and Its Role in Pleasure, Dominance and Communication - PMC
[10] Do animals have sex for pleasure? - BBC Do animals have sex for pleasure?
 

Last edited:
To be alive, one of the qualifications is the ability to reproduce. If life didn't have that ability, it would have died out when the first cell died. Reproduction is essential for life to continue, without it there is no life. DNA is life's hard drive, its programs run our lives. Humans are biological beings, who respond to their drives.
What amazes me is all the to-do about the human love of sex, it is essentially bladder spasms.
 
Last edited:
horseless carriage said:
Up to a point it is nature, but what other species has the large, like for like gender relations as that of human beings. The UK Office for National Statistics' Census for 2021 showed a total of 748,000 who described themselves as gay. Male/male. The lesbian, female/female count was 624,000. That's one million, three hundred and seventy-two thousand who simply cannot procreate, well not without a little help from a test tube.
Click to expand...
The problem is that the process of life is not an arbitrarily human concept of perfection. It only evolves what works, perfection is unnecessary, if not impossible. Whether we call it Creation, Nature, or Evolution, it should be obvious to the casual observer, none of it works as well as it could to ensure survival. Species survive because the process works well enough for species to endure until the species no longer endures.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
To be alive, one of the qualifications is the ability to reproduce. If life didn't have that ability, it would have died out when the first cell died. Reproduction is essential for life to continue, without it there is no life. DNA is life's hard drive, its programs run our lives. Humans are biological beings, who respond to their drives.
What amazes me is all the to-do about the human love of sex, it is essentially bladder spasms.
Click to expand...
Still leaves you wondering though. In early evolution as cell division began to happen, there wouldn't have been any pleasure centers or neurological reward, as there were no neurons to reward.

Even for fish, there was no need for whoopee organs. The eggs would remain moist and all you gotta do is put a little secret sauce on them. However, after fish learning that growing a pair of limbs and hanging out on the beaches might be a cool way to live, the whole process of the traditional egg thing just wouldn't fly anymore, as the eggs would dry out.

As luck would have it, at least one of them came up with the epiphany that he could just grow a quite useful appendage that could fertilize the eggs before they were laid (Bless that stroke of genius). However, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when he pulled that thing out, and she said, "What the hell do you think you're gonna do with that?"

Anyway, as it turns out, apparently she kinda liked it, and voila, here we are.
 
When I met my ex, I was very attracted to him, and he to me. I married him with no thought of having children. It was my physical erogenous urges that made me desire to have sexual intercourse with him, to satisfy it. Not any want to get pregnant. However, my 3 children were a happy consequence.
 
Pepper said:
That's rude.
Click to expand...
A joke may be rude, since it's just a joke.

Two decades ago a very well known and very successful German entertainer (comedian) on TV made a joke on a man who got both legs amputated. This man was in hospital (in my hometown) and had a severe peripheral artery occlusive disease (aka intermittent claudication) that made the amputation of one of his legs necessary. But the surgeon did a medical malpractice and amputated the wrong leg. Since the other leg had the disease it had to be amputated too. For this reason the man lost both legs. The mentioned comic made the joke: "I am quite sure that this man never sets a foot in this hospital again".

The people in his show laughed and nobody cared or protested. Not even the patient himeslf. Meanwhile every little joke is ostracized.

Another example: The German crime series "Tatort" which is once a month on Sunday evening with different teams in various regions (many cities have their own "Tatort") has a very popular team in the city of Münster in NW-Germany. It is a sloppy left-wing detective, a right-wing coroner and his female assistant with dwarfism.. The coroner is very rich, drives a Porsche, very intellectual and loves operas of Richard Wagner. The actress who plays the assistant is in fact only 1.32 meter (4.33 feet). The physician often calls her "Alberich" which is the name of the dwarf in Wagner's opera cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen". Alberich is the chief of the Nibelungen race of dwarves.

Or in one show happened a murder on an asparagus farm. The physician said to her: "You should apply for the job of an asparagus reaper. You don't even need to bend down".

The people who watch the show love these jokes. Of course the actor who plays the coroner and the actress as his assistant are very much of the same wavelength and very familiar together. Even she likes that he is often teasing her. Now the broadcasting corporation which produces the show has banned his jokes. The result: The people don't like it anymore.
 
Last edited:
fuzzybuddy said:
To be alive, one of the qualifications is the ability to reproduce. If life didn't have that ability, it would have died out when the first cell died. Reproduction is essential for life to continue, without it there is no life. DNA is life's hard drive, its programs run our lives. Humans are biological beings, who respond to their drives.
What amazes me is all the to-do about the human love of sex, it is essentially bladder spasms.
Click to expand...
:ROFLMAO:
 
If the audience doesn't know there is good repport between the actor and little person with dwarfism, how can they know that the actor's asparagus joke is not hurtful to the little person? To laugh, or not, is the question.
 
Brookswood said:
Species that did not have a strong mating desire probably faded away and went extinct. Isn’t that rather obvious?
Click to expand...
Not exactly true. There was reproduction before there was mating desire, and it didn't go extinct.
Also there are animals even today that do asexual reproduction and don't need a mate.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top