Sexual Behaviour

Abstract

The sexual behaviour of the male usually consists of courtship followed by copulation. In order to analyse his sexual behaviour it is necessary to keep this dichotomy in mind and also to divide copulation by the male into its components of mounting, intromission and, depending on the species, possibly thrusting, and, finally, ejaculation. In the case of the female a form of courtship may exist but be difficult to discern. Generally oestrous females become restless; the bitch on heat, for example, is well known to run loose if allowed to. This active participation of the female in sexual behaviour is defined as proceptivity and two other aspects of her role can also be distinguished: her receptivity and her attractiveness to males (Beach, 1976; Keverne, 1976.) Such concepts have not been applied as yet to the females of our common livestock species, but they might be useful if we are to understand their behaviour more fully. In most agricultural species successful copulation depends on the female adopting a copulatory stance in order for the male to gain intromission, and this stance as we shall see is brought about by a coordinated series of events.