Why no more humans attracted to chimpanzees and bonobos?
Posted: Sat May 16, 2026 12:33 am
Wild mules exist as far as I know, so it's likely that mares and asses could be attracted to each other. So if inter-species attraction between close relatives is a thing, why does it seem to be so rare among zoophiles, as far as I know?
While I see the obvious evolutionary reasons why people would have developed a sharp distinction between members of their own and other related species and weakened attraction to similar species, I don't see why human attraction to bonobos and chimpanzees does not seem to remain even as a vestigial trait among humans. Does attraction towards them really make less evolutionary sense than attraction towards other animals? My only guess is that we apparently find less people attracted to these animals simply because they are all wild.
(This is based on some statistics I recall, but I don't remember the source.)
While I see the obvious evolutionary reasons why people would have developed a sharp distinction between members of their own and other related species and weakened attraction to similar species, I don't see why human attraction to bonobos and chimpanzees does not seem to remain even as a vestigial trait among humans. Does attraction towards them really make less evolutionary sense than attraction towards other animals? My only guess is that we apparently find less people attracted to these animals simply because they are all wild.
(This is based on some statistics I recall, but I don't remember the source.)