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Holy fellatio, Batman! Fruit bats use oral sex to prolong actual sex

The short-nosed fruit bat is the only animal apart from humans that regularly engages in fellatio. For every second that the female licks the male’s penis during copulation, they get an extra six seconds of sex.

By Ed Yong

PUBLISHED October 27, 2009

Many humans whinge about not getting oral sex often enough, but for most animals, it’s completely non-existent. In fact, we know of only animal apart from humans to regularly engage in fellatio – the short-nosed fruit bat (Cynopterus sphinx).

The bat’s sexual antics have only just been recorded by Min Tan of China’s Guangdong Entomological Institute (who are either branching out, or are confused about entomology). Tan captured 60 wild bats from a nearby park, housed them in pairs of the opposite sex and voyeuristically filmed their liaisons using a night-time camera. Twenty of the bats got busy, and their exploits were all caught on video.

Male bats create tents by biting leaves until they fall into shape. These provide shelter and double as harems, each housing several females who the male mates with. Fruit bat sex goes like this: the female approaches and sniffs the male, and both partners start to lick one another. The male makes approaches with his thumbs (like the Fonz) and mounts the female (like the Fonz). Sex itself is the typical rhythmic thrusting that...

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Holy fellatio, Batman! Fruit bats use oral sex to prolong actual sex

The short-nosed fruit bat is the only animal apart from humans that regularly engages in fellatio. For every second that the female licks the male’s penis during copulation, they get an extra six seconds of sex.

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