Why is it that animals seem as if they are always going at it, while humans seem to only do it when they aren’t busy? So really, what’s procreation got to do with sex?

Sex may be one of the most powerful forces in nature that is considered a healthy way of living, whether it is for procreating or pleasurable purposes. In regards to dating habits and sexual attraction to their mates, animals and humans have both similarities and differences.

According to Professor Keith Kendrick, a Behavioral Neuroscientist at Babraham Institute, humans are more gentle and refined, due to higher intelligence and emotions.

For those species with excellent eyesight, focus plays an important role in forming the visual adornment that triggers sexual attraction, Kendrick said.

“I usually love that natural beauty look - which I don’t see too often,” said dentistry and pharmacy freshman Michael Salinas, 18.

While most people associate looks with being attracted to someone, scent can be just as important.

For humans, scent is tied to memory that connects with the vomeronasal part of their brain, which directs information toward the area that controls sex and aggression. For example, male hamsters need scent to function in order to be attracted and mate with a female hamster.

Humans can detect odors with a more complex olfactory system giving a story behind our conscious experiences of scent.

“My girlfriend has this natural odor that makes me feel comfortable,” Salinas said. “So whenever I’m not with her and I smell a similar scent, it’s just crazy because she pops into my mind.”

Taste is another stimulant when attracting your mate. Humans don’t go around licking and tasting each other, but they do kiss to explore the physical chemistry they might share with each another.

Animals on the other hand, do have oral contact for social investigating or grooming.

Creatures of all species use touch as a way of communicating romantic intentions. In both humans and animals, the subtle touch is usually the most romantic.

Olivia Judson, an evolutionary biologist and award-winning science journalist, explored the science of sex in her book, “Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation.” In it, she investigates the science of sex with examples of cross-dressing sponge lice and flatworms who use their penises as swords.

Professor of biology Ann Auleb said that comparing humans to animals is more complex than we all would hope it to be.

“Most animals only have sex when the female is ovulating,” she said. “Some animals are high-wired to know how to procreate whereas some must be taught.”

We have a larger cerebral cortex and limbic system. The limbic system is responsible for our emotional life, having a lot to do with information of memories, Auleb said.

While some sexually biological differences between animals and humans exist, some factors, such as mating rituals and frequency, may be more in tune.

According to the online encyclopedia, wikipedia.org, humans, dolphins and bonobos (pygmy chimps) are the only animals that have sex for pleasure. All three mammals engage in sex even when the female is not ovulating. They also engage in homosexual behaviors. This doesn’t mean that homosexuality and non-reproductive heterosexuality are limited to these species; rather it is just unusual in others.

In both humans and bonobos, the females undergo concealed ovulation so that males do not know whether she is fertile at any given moment. The evolutionary advantage encourages sex anytime for social reasons rather than reproductive ones. It may be that sex reinforces intimate social bonds between individuals to form larger social structures.

However, one animal that doesn’t get opportunities for recreational sex is the penguin.

According to Jane Taurus, the penguin keeper at the San Francisco Zoo, penguins have sex once a year, and engage in the act for no more than 10 seconds. They mate in autumn, shortly before the coldest time of the year. Since there are more females than males, the lonely females try to interfere with mating couples.

During mating season, the females can sometimes be identified by the footprints on their back.

Beyond the hunt for a mate and then the act of reeling them in, is the ultimate importance of reproduction.

“To a miserable organism sitting alone in a singles bar, genetic mixing might not seem worth the bother,” Judson writes in her book. “Yet it is fundamental to the grand scheme of things.”