Why are humans always in heat?

Question

Non native speaker 🙃.

Are we the unique specie that is always horny or there are others?

Also why the arrive of the “horniess” is that early, 11.17 yo for males and 12.6 yo for females (Means from this paper: Timing of Puberty and Sexuality in Men and Women by Ostovich & Sabini , 2005) I mean this totally make sense for us boys, if you star having sex soon probably you will have more descendants, but this don’t have any benefits (beside is a funny feeling…) for females, Is not the twenties the ideal ages to have babys?

In: Biology

Answer 1

1) humans are a species that needs a lot of work to raise children. It’s advantageous to have multiple people caring for children, so parents bonding together for a long time to raise children was a positive trait during human evolutionary history. With women able to have sex every day (rather than just a short period of time each month for estrus, such as is the case in chimpanzees) increases the bonding between a man and a woman, increasing the chances that they will stay together long term to raise their child

2) One of the closest ape relatives of humans, bonobos, also can have sex at any time, and they are very promiscuous, using sex to bond with others, to greet others in a friendly way, to resolve conflicts, or just recreationally. In many other species, males might be able to have sex at any time, but won’t be interested in sex until they get a signal from a female, such as seeing a female in heat. But females typically only express interest in sex during a narrow window of time.

3) People reach puberty now much earlier than we did during most of human history. Girls had their first menstrual period around age 16, not age 11 as today, and boys reached puberty when older, too. But because our diet and exercise regimen is very different today than in those earlier times, we are sending signals to the body to start puberty earlier, long before children are emotionally mature enough to have sex and children. Even when girls got their first period at 16, they typically were not reliably fertile and able to get pregnant for a few years, meaning that first motherhood happened closer to age 18 or 20.