Editing Animal sexual behaviour (section)

===Sexual fetishes===
{{See also|operant conditioning}}
Although not often reported, it appears{{weasel-inline}} animals, or primates at the least, are able to sexualize inanimate objects similar to the way human beings sexualize the objects of their [[sexual fetish]]es. Not only will an animal that has a habitual object for masturbation sometimes appear to sexualize that object, primates have generalized further to sexualize ''kinds of objects'' for which no instinctual or prior sexual connection exists. {{Fact|date=April 2008}}

Thus Gabriel, a chimpanzee at the [[Southwest National Primate Research Center]], is said to have a shoe fetish (or possibly a leather fetish) according to caretaker Bert Barrera, and it is reported that:

{{quote|A male chimpanzee raised in captivity developed a bit of a shoe fetish, masturbating obsessively by rubbing his caretaker's leather boot.|[http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA101904.01B.Chimp_homes.7bca96.html mysanantonio.com]}}

The sexualization of objects or locations is also well recognized in the breeding world. So for example, [[stallion (horse)|stallion]]s may often 'drop' (become [[sexual arousal|sexually aroused]]) upon visiting a location where they have been allowed to have sex before, or upon seeing a stimulus previously associated with sexual activity such as an [[artificial vagina]]. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}

In this case however, the primary structure is [[Pavlovian conditioning]], and the fetishistic association is due to a conditioned response (or association) formed with a distinctive '[[reward]]'. Human fetishism can also be traced back to similar or near-identical conditioning: likewise based upon the Pavlovian association between an erotic sensation or [[pelvic congestion|anticipation]], and objects which become mentally associated with that activity. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}