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[–][deleted] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Sex exists in animals who have no society to speak of. It can't be a social construct if it exists in non-social species. Most big cats are asocial animals, they only get together for mating and they know exactly which sex each other is.

A social construct can't exist in asocial animals, and yet sex still exists and the cats still know what it is.

[–]MarkTwainiac 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Most big cats are asocial animals, they only get together for mating and they know exactly which sex each other is.

I would consider any species that needs to "get together" with others of their species for mating, or any other reason, to be social. After all, reproduction is a primary drive of all species.

Moreover, even amongst big cat groups where (some of) the (male) adults show what human observers historically have regarded as relatively little need for companionship, newborns and the young are very dependent on their mothers for nursing, food, affection, play, protection, education and various other kinds of interaction. As is the case with most mammals, big cat mothers are inherently nurturing and protective in a physical sense, and just as they suckle their offspring with milk from their teats they also tend to engage in a lot of social activities like nuzzling, licking and cuddling their young. Big cat mothers and their offspring are extremely social with one another.

Growing up, many members of big cat species are very involved with and bonded to the siblings they were born with as well - and some stay bonded to their siblings into and through adulthood.

Fact is, amongst the big cat species that some humans have characterized as "asocial" there are marked differences between the behaviors of adult males and adult females - and amongst males at different ages and stages of development. When equal attention and weight are given to the females of the species, and to the young as well as to adults, the claim that "most big cats are asocial" is quickly called into question.

The idea that "most big cats are asocial" is a conclusion reached by male scientists that is directly related to the fact that most of the humans who have observed and described big cat (and other) species in the literature over time were men, and these men have traditionally focused their observations on adult male members of the species they're interested in, and have assumed that the behavior of full-grown adult males represent the behaviors that are representative of, and the norm for, the entire species. Moreover, a lot of these male observers have arrived at conclusions about other species which often reflect their own preconceived biases rather than what's in front of their eyes: they've ignored the social interactions of mothers and their offspring because they consider females and children secondary and of little or no importance; their interest and focus has been on grown males of other species they regard as analogous to themselves.

Plus, sex exists in plants too.