October 29, 2009, 12:00 PM ET

Fellatio Among Fruit Bats

Scientists observing the short-nosed fruit bat Cynopterus sphinx in southern China's Guangdong Province report that the females prolong sex by licking the shaft of their mate's penis during dorsoventral copulation (both mammals facing in the same direction).

"Males never withdrew their penis when it was licked by the mating partner," the researchers wrote in a paper published on Wednesday in the electronic journal PLoS ONE. "Mating pairs spent significantly more time in copulation if the female licked her mate's penis than if fellatio was absent."

Bats being bats, the "near-threatened" C. sphinx are also upside down as this occurs (see drawing by Mei Wang). --Don Troop

(Tip of the wing to Annals of Improbable Research.)

Comments

1. tlgriffith18 - October 29, 2009 at 05:20 pm

Did we really need to know this????

2. 22228715 - October 29, 2009 at 05:25 pm

Well, I don't know if we NEEDED to know this, and it sure seems like a content departure for the Chronicle of Higher Education, but at least two of us (you and me) clicked on the link. You have to admit, the title was pretty accurate, so we got what was advertised...

3. tiburon - October 29, 2009 at 05:31 pm

C*** Suckers!

4. dwunsch - October 30, 2009 at 06:50 am

Just in time for Halloween!

5. willynilly - October 30, 2009 at 09:56 am

This is the kind of crap that Mark Bauerlein usually researches and then reports upon - incorrectly.

6. coopsterman321 - October 30, 2009 at 11:20 am

Nice. This has to be a joke. Look at the name of the illustrator. Wouldn't Mei Wang be pronounced 'my wang'?

7. laro1470 - October 30, 2009 at 11:40 am

Proving the Annals of Improbable Research are the equivalent of Jon Stewart's fake news program. Way more fun to watch than the local 11p.m. talking heads. Kudos to the Improbable Research folks.

8. dtroop - October 30, 2009 at 01:06 pm

The paper actually links to a (fairly slow to load) Quicktime video of the bats' performance -- with a surprising musical score: http://tiny.cc/jepMm

9. minnesotan - October 30, 2009 at 04:36 pm

Reports about legitmate research on animal behavior are unnecessary, yet Barreca's vacuous disquisitions on shoe shopping and how men suck are appropriate for chronicle of lower IQ readers?

Grow up.

10. benneyan - November 01, 2009 at 12:24 pm

From the video it actually is unclear which part the female bat is licking, his or hers...

11. k_zinger - November 01, 2009 at 12:34 pm

For some reason, this article has really brightened my mood. Seriously, I will go back to work smiling. Maybe it's a surprise factor as I did not expect it in the least! But thanks, kind editors.