For the first time in recorded history, gorillas are found having sexual relations with other female gorillas.
Associate Professor Dr. Cyril Grueter, a primate expert from the University of Western Australia made the discovery and believes the behaviour was instigated by mere sexual arousal and nothing more.
After coming upon the strange behaviour when trying to study the feeding ecology of mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Grueter then went on to try and understand what motivated the sexual pattern.
In the study that followed, the Australian found that the sexuality of female gorillas was very flexible, a finding which corresponds with another earlier research which found that female humans are more adaptable in their sexuality than men, he said. “The female gorillas are quite flexible when it comes to sexuality, they can easily switch from a preference for males to a preference for females,” Dr Grueter said.
He added that: “When the male is not available they try to entice another female to mate with them. Out of 22 female gorillas across two separate groups studied, 18 were found to engage in sexual activity with other females, including engaging in genital rubbing. We believe it is simply a function of sexual arousal.”
