Kisses, Wuzzles, and Necking: Affectionate Behaviors

Many animals of the same sex touch each other in ways that are not overtly sexual (they do not involve direct contact of the genitals) but that do nevertheless have clear sexual or erotic overtones. These are referred to as affectionate activities and are found in nearly a quarter of the animals in which some form of homosexual activity occurs. Although many of these behaviors (grooming, embracing, play-fighting) can occur in other contexts, their erotic nature in a same-sex context is usually obvious: the two animals may be visibly sexually aroused, the behavior may directly precede or follow homosexual copulation or courtship, or the affectionate activity may occur in a same-sex pair-bond.

One type of affectionate activity is simple grooming or rubbing. Male Lions “head-rub” and roll around with each other before having sex together; Bats such as Gray-headed Flying Foxes and Vampire Bats engage in erotic same-sex grooming and licking; male Mountain Sheep rub their horns and faces on other males, sometimes becoming sexually aroused; Whales and Dolphins stroke and rub each other with their flippers or tail flukes, as well as rub bodies together; while numerous primates such as Apes, Macaques, and Baboons frequently caress and groom each other in both sexual and nonsexual contexts. A few birds such as Humboldt Penguins, Pukeko, Black-billed Magpies, and Parrots also indulge in preening—the avian equivalent of grooming—in their homosexual interactions or pair-bonds.

Some animals also “kiss” each other: male African Elephants, female Rhesus Macaques, male West Indian Manatees and Walruses, female Hoary Marmots, and male Mountain Zebras (among others) all touch mouths, noses, or muzzles during their homosexual encounters. Even some birds, such as Black-billed Magpies, engage in mutual beak-nibbling or “billing” as part of same-sex courtship. In primates, kissing (in both homosexual and heterosexual contexts) can bear a startling resemblance to the corresponding human activity: a number of species such as Squirrel Monkeys and Common Chimpanzees engage in full mouth-to-mouth contact, while male Bonobos kiss each other with “passionate” openmouthed kisses with considerable mutual tongue stimulation.

Numerous species of Monkeys and Apes also “hug” or embrace same-sex partners in homosexual contexts (usually face-to-face, although male Bonobos and Vervets also embrace while standing in a front-to-back position). Among non-primates, female Bottlenose Dolphins clasp each other during homosexual activity, male West Indian Manatees embrace one another underwater, while Gray-headed Flying Foxes wrap their wing-membranes around same-sex partners while stimulating each other. A striking form of same-sex embracing is the “sleeping huddle” found in Stumptail and Bonnet Macaques: a pair of males often sleep together in a front-to-back position, one male wrapping his arms around the other and sometimes even holding on to his partner’s penis. A similar sleeping arrangement occurs, surprisingly, among male Walruses, who often sleep in same-sex pairs or extended “chains” of males, all clasping each other in a front-to-back position as they float at the water’s surface.

Two younger male Bonobos kissing

(PHOTO BY FRANS DE WAAL)

A number of mammals also engage in mock battles or “play-fights” that have erotic overtones. Although they superficially resemble aggressive behavior, these “battles” or “contests” do not involve any physical violence and are clearly distinguished from actual cases of aggressive or territorial behavior in these species. Male African Elephants, for example, frequently become sexually aroused and develop erections when they perform ritualized erotic jousting matches, while numerous hoofed mammals such as male Giraffes, Bison, Blackbuck antelopes, and Mule Deer mount each other during play-fights or ritualistic jousting. Among primates such as Orang-utans, Gibbons, and Proboscis Monkeys, males sometimes engage in playful wrestling matches that can develop into sexual encounters, while male Australian and New Zealand Sea Lions also indulge in play-fighting combined with same-sex mounting. Although play-fighting is most common among male mammals, female Cheetahs sometimes engage in “mock fighting” with each other as part of same-sex courtship sequences, while female (and male) Galahs and Orange-fronted Parakeets in same-sex pairs have playful “fencing bouts” with their bills.⁷

Many other types of affectionate and contactual behaviors occur between animals of the same sex. Sometimes animals gently bite, nibble, or chew on each other’s ears (female Hoary Marmots), or wings and chests (Gray-headed Flying Foxes), or rumps (male Dwarf Cavies), or necks (male Savanna Baboons). Male African Elephants intertwine their trunks, while female Japanese Macaques sometimes suck each other’s nipples, and male Crested Black Macaques and Savanna Baboons affectionately pat or grab other males’ rear ends. Pairs of animals may sit, huddle, or lie together in close proximity, sometimes touching hands or putting an arm around the shoulder (female Gorillas, Squirrel Monkeys, and Japanese Macaques, male Siamangs), while male Hanuman Langurs “cuddle” together by sitting back-to-front, one male between the other’s legs with his partner’s hands resting on his loins. Male Lions and female Long-eared Hedgehogs slide the lengths of their bodies along their partner’s, while male Bowhead Whales, Killer Whales, and Gray Seals roll their bodies over each other, and same-sex companions in Gray Whales and Botos swim side by side while gently touching each other with their fins.

Some animals have developed unique forms of touching that combine several different types of affectionate activities along with courtship and sexual behaviors. Male Giraffes engage in “necking”, a multifaceted activity that incorporates elements of play-fighting, courtship, and sexuality, in which they rub their necks along each other’s body while also licking, sniffing, and becoming sexually aroused by one another. In Giraffes and other species, these types of activities sometimes involve multiple animals interacting simultaneously in near “orgies” of bodily contact. Spinner Dolphins, for example, participate in “wuzzles”—group sessions of mutual caressing and sexual activity (both same-sex and opposite-sex)—while West Indian Manatees have a similar sort of “free-for-all” group activity known as cavorting, which can involve rubbing, chasing, and sexual interactions, among many other activities. Among birds, Hammerheads, Acorn Woodpeckers, and Blue-bellied Rollers have ritualized bouts of courtship and mounting activity that may involve groups of individuals and both same-sex and opposite-sex partners. The distinctive and, in many cases, unabashedly sensual and playful aspects of some of these activities are aptly reflected in the descriptive names given to them by zoologists. In fact, the term wuzzle —though used as a technical designation for this behavior in the scientific literature—is actually a nonsense word coined by a marine biologist, whose whimsical “etymology” for the name could be right out of Lewis Carroll: “The term comes from W. E. Schevill of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who, when asked what the behavior was, replied without hesitation, ‘Why, it looks like a wuzzle to me.’”⁸