A world of love

For most animals, sex has evolved to be much more than just a reproductive act. Animals also enjoy sensorial stimulation. Bonobos, with which we share 98% of our DNA, are monkeys living in small groups in a region of the Congo.

Unusually, this species operates within a matriarchy, that is, the various groups are governed by the dominant females.

"These monkeys practice sex outside of the fertile period, with purposes we might call "recreational" and modalities that may seem rather libertine to us, since they include oral sex and homosexual relationships. 

In bonobos, intense sexual activity appears to limit aggression. These monkeys have an egalitarian social organization, based on reconciliation rather than on the dominance of one over the other: conflicts almost never resolve into violent clashes." (1)

"There is no doubt that the bonobos are the most libidinous species of all creation. 

One of the ways that females express the mutual bond is by vigorous contact between the genitals. Shelling is not only practiced among females; it occurs in all its combinations, regardless of sex, age and even sexual maturity. The females do it with the males, the males do it with other males, the ones and the others do it with the young. Bonobos have sexual contact with multiple individuals several times a day. Nevertheless, the females remain pregnant and have babies with roughly the same rates as the chimpanzees. This indicates that with our bonobo cousins we have in common a pattern of behavior, that is, we have neatly separated sex from reproduction." (2)

It should be said: "make peace, don’t make war".

Source: (1) The great story of human evolution by Giorgio Manzi (and the Mill); (2) Humans by Adam Rutherford (ed. Bollati Boringheri)