Male Cape ground squirrels ( Xerus inauris ), which live in Africa, have long been known to practice masturbation with some frequency. Jane Waterman of Central Florida University (USA) has studied a group of these mammals in Namibia to find out why they "waste" their sperm in this way. And it has come to the conclusion that males masturbate soon after copulating with females to reduce the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases . In fact, observations reveal that the habit of masturbation is more frequent in dominant males, who copulate more, than in their subordinates.
In a study published in the journal PLoS ONE , Waterman assures that, although the quality and quantity of sperm are reduced during masturbation, contracting a sexually transmitted disease can be more serious, since it would profoundly affect fertility.
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