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Do asexual animals exist?


Valentine Loren

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Valentine Loren

So, there're ace people, they don't experience sexual attraction to other people. 

Animals have the instinct of reproduction and they  ̶f̶u̶c̶k̶ ̶e̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ reproduce. But are there animals that don't have this instinct, ace animals? 

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I believe one of the first scientific experiments on asexuality where carried out in the UK. In the 1990s?

 

They found out that among sheeps, 3 % were asexual (or something like that). 

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Forest Spirit

We can't know for sure since we can only interpret their behaviour, but since we are animals too why not? Homosexual behaviour has been found in other species too

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Purple Red Panda

Had a quick google and found this.

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We supposedly can't dictate another person's orientation for them, so then surely we can't dictate those of other animals either -- and it's not like they can tell us themselves.

 

Ergo, we can never really know if they are ace, or any other orientation for that matter.  Even if they're screwing other animals of the opposite sex, they could be (and likely are) just doing it to reproduce.  And even if they're screwing other animals of the same sex, they could just be doing it for fun, not because they are sexually attracted to them.

 

Besides, we keep saying action doesn't dictate orientation and all that, riiiiight:rolleyes:

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Yes. I actually discovered asexuality was a thing when reading an article about a study concerning sexuality in bovids (it was in the 2000's). It concluded that around 2% of them were not interested by having sex at all and could thus be defined as asexual.

My dog is not neutered and has no reaction to other dogs, including bitches in heat. He has been kept with a ton of other dogs and has shown zero interest in sex (he's almost 6 y o now). As far as I can tell, the only thing which gets him really excited is cheese 😆

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I feel dumb. At firs,t I read the topic bar and scoffed, "obviously asexual reproduction exits." Then I got that your question was more involved than that, sorry! It's a fascinating question too. I mean, Ive never seen my dog try to hump anything, is he asexual? He cant tell me, so...

 

But I feel if it exists in man, it exists in broader nature.

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33 minutes ago, CBC said:

The real question is... do asexual Pokemon exist?

I'd like an answer, but I wouldn't dare google it.

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1 hour ago, Andrea KF said:

I'd like an answer, but I wouldn't dare google it.

DO NOT TURN SAFE SEARCH OFF WHEN GOOGLING POKEMON 😳

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Valentine Loren
2 hours ago, Astrea said:

My dog is not neutered and has no reaction to other dogs, including bitches in heat. He has been kept with a ton of other dogs and has shown zero interest in sex (he's almost 6 y o now). As far as I can tell, the only thing which gets him really excited is cheese 😆

It's a proof that ace animals actually exist 😀

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Janus the Fox

I’m on the side of it existing in all animal types in some extent, even if it’s just the lack expected observed sexual behaviour.  Homosexual behaviours exist in animals so Asexual behaviours should exist in some form as well. 

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Lord Jade Cross
2 hours ago, CBC said:

The real question is... do asexual Pokemon exist?

You rang?

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Many species have mating seasons and are pretty much asexual when off-season.

 

There's also "altruism" within certain species who lives in social groups, where only the alpha-couple are sexual.

And if you count insects like ants and bees as animals...

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andreas1033

Most definitely(that animals are asexuals).

 

There are animals, whom just breed once in there lifes if that, as they found that one connection, to stimulate a response to breed in them.

 

Alot of animals, do not have any big breeding drives. Yep, alot of them do. But many animals, have a serious lack of desire to breed, and maybe just once in there lifes, if they have a right connection. Of course those sorts, will often not meet another animal that stimulates that response.

 

So yes, there are many animals whom are asexual.

 

Pandas, in china, are the biggest example. They would be extinct probably, without humans holding them in captivity, and forcing them to breed in essence. But the people doing this, knows, how difficult it is to often get them a right partner, to stimulate any sort of response, as alot of pandas, will have no natural drives of there own. Just like asexuals.

 

I always said, to understand pandas, the chinese should look at asexual humans. Both really lack there own desire, or drive to mate. But alot of asexuals, do find someone, due, to that other stimulating something in side them, that they cannot really generate themselves. Alot of asexuals, will never see those moments, as for what ever reason, no one they met stimulated anything.

 

But the answer is yes, animals are asexual, and probably more then people know. Alot of animals who went extinct probably had low sex drives, or low desires to breed, where it was not enough, for the species to survive.

 

But like we say, there is a higher amount of asexuals in humans then people know. Just that most asexuals, have met someone, for what ever reason, that stimulated something in them. But alot of asexual humans, will never find a person that gets that response to happen within them.

 

Empathy is very important if your asexual, and how you would eventually find a partner if you do. In animals its even more important, and like the example of pandas, the people doing this breeding programme with them, knows how hard it is to find them a partner, that will get them to breed with.

 

Empathy is the biggest thing that will stimulate it in asexuals. But thats of course, if you meet the right person(which alot of asexuals will never do, but most do), and in animals. Like i said, its probably a reason why alot of species have died out.

 

Being asexual means, you cannot individually generate those drives yourself. For asexuals, the only real way to generate those things, is with empathy with another.

 

Thats how they get pandas to breed, and its very hard sometimes to get pandas a right partner. Its down to if both have empathy for each other, and the asexual animals, can feel the drives of the sexual partner.

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AmusedSkeptic

It’s very likely asexuality is in other animals. I did see some people pointing out that their dogs didn’t seem interested in mating, and I’m wondering if neutering/spaying only disables an animal’s reproductive system or if it also affects their sexuality? 

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Janus the Fox

Pokemon? All of em Asexual,  Video game magic happens at the Daycare 😛

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6 hours ago, CBC said:

The real question is... do asexual Pokemon exist?

Legendaries don't reproduce, sooo...

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Unleash the Echidnas

i'm a little surprised no one's mentioned parthenogenesis yet, either at the individual or species level. It's when an ova becomes fertile without sperm, resulting in virgin birth. Offhand, I know it's been documented in insects, reptiles, and sharks and introduced in genetically modified laboratory mice. Sometimes it's facultative, other times it's obligte. (Some plants are also parthenogenetic, though they're not animals.)

 

While asexual reproduction is distinct from the definition of asexuality as lack of desire for partnered sex, I can't recall any of the mentions of parthenogenesis I've encountered also mentioning sexual behavior in obligate species. Not sure if that's a limitation of the observations or if there's an association between parthenogenesis and the AVEN definition of asexuality.

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Is seriously no one going to address the fact that dictating an animal's sexual orientation for them without their input ought to be considered identity policing?

 

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i'm a little surprised no one's mentioned parthenogenesis yet, either at the individual or species level. It's when an ova becomes fertile without sperm, resulting in virgin birth. Offhand, I know it's been documented in insects, reptiles, and sharks and introduced in genetically modified laboratory mice. Sometimes it's facultative, other times it's obligte. (Some plants are also parthenogenetic, though they're not animals.)

I'm a little surprised that you're a little surprised that a forum of mostly teenagers/YAs probably aren't that well versed in genetics.

 

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The real question is... do asexual Pokemon exist?

Of course.  Ditto indiscriminately reproduces with anything that can breed; clearly that means it's asexual because it has no preferences.

 

Now you know where all the "amoeba" jokes come from.  It's even purple, too.  What more evidence do you need?

 

show

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7 hours ago, CBC said:

The real question is... do asexual Pokemon exist?

I thought the were all gay. Pogaymon, if you will.

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18 minutes ago, Homer said:

I thought the were all gay. Pogaymon, if you will.

Makes about as much sense as calling things asexual by observation alone

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It's hard to find ones that are "asexual" like what we mean rather than those who are "asexual" by Parthenogenesis.

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Yeah, of course... parthenogenesis skipped my mind (not that young, but definitely not a science person, there ^^). 
Also, the panda example is very good. I spent a few days with the people working in a zoo two years ago. China has lent them a couple of pandas for reproductive purpose and apparently, trying to make them even a little bit interested in mating is a science in itself. It was kinda funny to see them trying to engineer some kind of panda porn (for real) and working on a ton of stimulation things while the panda were just like 'meh... I still got bamboo sticks, so you know... raincheck on that baby thing'. 

@TheGoodDemonKeeper neutered animals can still mate. Some of them do. So I don't think neutering / spaying changes your sexual orientation, just that it removes the almost incontrollable urge (for males, mostly), which honestly seem to act a bit like ecstazy to me... if you've seen a male rabbit during reproduction season, it looks like they are possessed and it doesn't look fun at all for them. The female generally looks like she's being raped more than anything. I have a doe that used to be a breeding rabbit and when I got her, she had PTSD and you couldn't touch her hindquarter without her going ballistic, which was super creepy... She's a lot better now and has zero interest in sharing her space with other rabbits now (but she loves watching Midsomer Murders with me 😆)

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Unleash the Echidnas

Interesting, @Astrea. Panda sex isn't something I follow, but I'd got the impression a lot of it was giving the pandas a change to live somewhat normally.

 

Free mate choice enhances conservation breeding in the endangered giant panda, for example.

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While expression of mate preferences are known to yield fitness benefits in other species, we found surprisingly large effect sizes for mate preferences on reproductive performance for this iconic species representing conservation in general, and conservation breeding in particular.

 

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