Promiscuous primates engage in same-sex genital interactions

Same-sex genital interactions (SSGIs) occur across the order primates, yet explaining their maintenance in evolutionary terms appears problematic; as such interactions seem to counteract reproductive goals. We hypothesised that in more promiscuous species, where sexual motivation, mating effort, and non-conceptive heterosexual behaviour are greater, SSGIs may also occur at greater frequencies without necessarily impeding reproduction. We found that the expression of both male and female SSGIs were greater in multimale systems than in unimale ones. Both male and female SSGIs were positively correlated with the degree of promiscuity (relative testes mass). As mating system confers biases in the sex ratio that may influence the expression of SSGIs, we controlled for availability of members of the same-sex. When employing this control, results were largely congruent. For males, SSGIs were expressed more frequently in multimale systems. For both sexes, SSGIs were expressed more frequently with greater relative testes mass. We suggest SSGIs in primates may be a neutral by-product of selection for increases in promiscuous sexual activity, and that in certain instances these interactions may be co-opted to facilitate adaptive social functions.