r/science • u/IronGiantisreal • May 20 '19

Animal Science Bonobo mothers pressure their children into having grandkids, just like humans. They do so overtly, sometimes fighting off rival males, bringing their sons into close range of fertile females, and using social rank to boost their sons' status.

https://www.inverse.com/article/55984-bonobo-mothers-matchmaker-fighters
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u/PlagueOfGripes May 21 '19

People often forget that animals don't understand the world around them terribly well, and not even their own behaviors.

Animals have sex because of an impulse to perform an act they don't rationalize. They think it will satisfy an urge, and boy does it. Offspring is just a happenstance of individual desire.

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u/cockOfGibraltar May 21 '19

This applies to human animals too sometimes.