Are there examples of Homesexuality in the animal kingdom?

Question

I'm sure there are, I just don't know which.

I'm heterosexual, but I'd like to have an answer to the red-necks I work with who say "nature doesn't get it wrong."

Answer 1

(Sorry this is so long, but it is good! It's from an article in the Times a few days ago.)

But the Natural History Museum in Oslo has gone one better. As America’s religious right fulminates against homosexuality, Europe embraces gay marriage, and leading homosexuals such as Martina Navratilova denounce scientists in Oregon for attempting to make gay sheep straight, the Naturhistorisk Museum is stepping squarely into the heart of a controversy that dates back to at least AD1120 when the Church Council of Nablus described homosexuality as a “sin against nature” .

It is staging a government-financed exhibition in its august halls that shows that homosexuality — far from being unnatural — is actually rampant in the animal world. Against Nature? is the first exhibition in the world dedicated to gay animals, claims Petter Bockman, its bearded and ponytailed scientific adviser, who also happens to be the University of Oslo’s leading — and only — frog expert (there are not many amphibians, gay or straight, this far north).

The facts have been staring scientists in the face for years, Bockman says, as he stands in front of the gay giraffes. “It’s fairly easy to see because the giraffe’s sex organs are not what you’d call modest.” The problem, he contends, is that when researchers are confronted by such behaviour, they choose to ignore it. They claim it is irrelevant to their work, or fear ridicule or the loss of their grants if they draw attention to it. They prefer to describe two animals of the same sex frolicking with each other as “competition, a form of greeting, ritualised combat, things like that — even when we are talking full anal intercourse with ejaculation”.

The taboo was finally broken in 1999 when Bruce Bagemihl, a gay biologist at the University of Wisconsin, published a book entitled Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity.

Bagemihl had scoured every scientific journal and paper he could lay his hands on for references to homosexuality in animals. Tucked away at the end of long and erudite texts, or consigned to footnotes and appendices, he found that homosexuality had been observed in no fewer than 1,500 species, and well documented in 500 of them. The earliest mention of animal homosexuality probably came 2,300 years ago when Aristotle described two female hyenas cavorting with each other.

Bagemihl’s book provided the inspiration for this exhibition, and any notion that homosexuality is a uniquely human trait is quickly disposed of. You are greeted by a pair of swans — the very symbols of romantic love — who turn out to be a female couple. “Up to a fifth of all pairs are all male or all female,” reads the accompanying text.

Then you come to the photograph of the whales “penis fencing” above which hang — for no apparent reason — two actual whale penises, both several feet long and looking like stretched and desiccated turnips. Some of the male whales meet year after year, says Bockman, while their relations with females are fleeting at best.

A model — the one that invariably draws most giggles from the exhibition’s younger visitors — shows a male Amazonian river dolphin penetrating another’s blowhole. “This is the only example of nasal sex we have in nature,” Brockman observes.

Up to a fifth of all king penguin couples kept in captivity are gay, we learn from a display of stuffed penguins wearing pink scarves. Hooded seagulls, sea otters, fish, kangaroos, fruit bats, blue jays, storks, pine martens and owls make guest appearances. So does the lowly hedgehog (ouch).

Male and female bighorn sheep apparently unite during the rutting season, but the rest of the year the males stick together and homosexuality flourishes. “The females are boring. Only the males do it,” says Brockman. Insects, spiders, molluscs, crustaceans — they’re all at it. There is an 1896 sketch of two male scarab beetles enjoying each other. There are even gay gutworms; we know that, Brockman says, because “ they have sex organs and since they are translucent, it’s easy to find out what sex they are”.

Round a corner and you are confronted by a photograph of two female bonobo chimpanzees lovingly rubbing their swollen genitalia against each other while their offspring look on. “Their whole life revolves around sex,” Brockman explains with his trademark enthusiasm. “They will throw themselves into group sex and gender doesn’t seem to be relevant. Even children will give a helping hand.”

The exhibition then uses macaques and apes to introduce the unsuspecting visitor to the practice of “diddling”, in which the primates gently hold each other’s scrotums. It is a way of establishing trust, Brockman suggests. Certainly you would not allow yourself to be diddled by someone you did not trust. The exhibition gives short shrift to the idea that animals have sex simply to reproduce, and they manifestly do not consider gay sex sinful. They do it, Brockman suggests, partly for fun and partly because it serves as a “binding mechanism” for herds and flocks.

The more social the species, the more likely it is to engage in homosexual activity, the exhibition argues. “Many social animals have complex social systems where individuals seek out allies for help and protection. Sex is an important way of strengthening the alliance, also between animals of the same sex. In some animals, the whole species is bisexual, and homosexual relationships are prerequisite for joining a pack, making heterosexuality a disadvantage.” As with humans, the homosexual partnerships of some animals are often for life, not fleeting dalliances. Male flamingoes, swans and other birds will sometimes have one-night stands with females to produce eggs, then chase off the mother and rear the offspring with another male.

There is only one known example of animals rejecting homosexuals. Blacktail deer will drive away those of their species known as perukes, who do not shed their antlers because of a hormonal condition and tend to be homosexual.

The exhibition ends, predictably, with humans — though it rather prudishly refrains from showing pictures of gay men or women in the act. “Compared to the other apes, human homosexuality is neither extremely frequent, nor particularly rare, and in our species too the practice varies from one culture to the next,” it says.

There is also, prominently displayed, a quotation from Magnus Enquist, a professor of ethology at Stockholm University: “There are things that are more contrary to nature than homosexuality, things humans alone do — such as having religion or sleeping in pyjamas.”

Bockman says he believes the exhibition should end the debate about whether homosexuality is unnatural. He readily admits it is “political” in intent, and even in Norway, where shoolchildren are taught about homosexuality from the age of 13, it has attracted huge publicity. But apart from a few lone voices on the religious right — one preacher hoped the organisers would “burn in hell”, another priest said the money would be better spent on curing gay animals — the public’s response has been overwhelmingly positive.

The museum’s attendance figures have soared in the month since the exhibition opened. It has received hundreds of e-mails from around the world, many from foreigners lamenting their own countries’ repressive attitude to homosexuality. The exhibition’s visitors book is full of similar sentiments. “Very interesting themes you are bringing up,” read one unsigned message, before adding: “PS, We had sex in the hall on the top floor of your museum.” Brockman was delighted. “Apparently someone got inspired,” he chuckled.

Answer 2

Homesexuality In Animals

Answer 3

Yes there is. Yahoo actually had a news article a few months back about many fine examples of homosexual behaviors in animals. In that artcicle it talked about the highest display of such activity actually lays with the female Girrafe. But in thousands of monitered species there is clear signs of homosexual acts and behaivior. Its something that is completly natural.
It was your classic early bird christians that obviously were homophobes and decided to create some high and powerful being to tell you what you could and couldnt do. It was in their eyes that it was wrong. NATURE AINT WRONG. If over millions of year the panet has evolved and over that millions of year people are noticing **** behavior in animals, then it clearly isnt anything new to the world, its been going on for a long time. You tell those red-necks that being gay is just as natural as them screwing their family. (Obviously banging family is wrong, and being gay isnt, but it will get your point across)

Answer 4

There are several examples of homosexuality in animals. I've included a few links to some stories on it.

The Gay Animal Kingdom
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/06/the_gay_animal_kingdom.php?page=all&p=y

Homosexual Animals Out of the Closet
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/061116_homosexual_animals.html

Gay animals out of the closet?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15750604/

Biology Behind Homosexuality In Sheep, Study Confirms
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/03/040309073256.htm

An Unusual Love Story - Penguins accept same-sex commitments.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4352011/

They're in love. They're gay. They're penguins... And they're not alone.
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp

Answer 5

There are all sorts of examples in animals, all the great apes show gay behaviour, penguins, baboons, bit cats, dolphins and whales. Homosexual behaviour has been observed in almost all species. Below is a wikopedia reference to the subject and an article about an exhibition in Oslo on this subject.

Answer 6

Yes, there are examples, but I don't know exactly of what, though I have seen TV shows showing such phenomena. But I think it is a good idea to be very careful about wording these things, first because the "sexuality" of humans and the "sexuality" of animals probably are very, very different things. And then when you add the "****-" part, I can imagine that what is "****-" to humans is probably not the same thing at all to the "minds" or senses of animals.

Answer 7

Nature gets lots of things wrong but I don't know if homosexuality could be seen that way. Lots of animals display homosexuality though probably not for all their lifes. Bonobos are notable for it, as they are with, chimpanzees the closest relatives to human beings with about 97% of their DNA indentical to theirs.

Of course if they're ignorant red necks they'll say 'well, ah sure didn't evolve from no monkey'.

Answer 8

for the doofus who said if animals were homos, how would they reproduce... what do you think of all the asexual animals that can reproduce without a male, sooo HA! asexual, homosexual, heterosexual... if they can do that in the animal kingdom, why can't people do the same.. and if you ask me, humans reproducing is now overrated... whats the population at, 6 billion? besides, we've all heard about the family dog humping the bunny rabbit, they cross breed, they hump each other, they're just sexual. nature definetly got it right.

Answer 9

Well lets see....


Bonobos (like a smaller chimp) will have sex with nearly anything that moves and sometimes will trade sex for food with other bonobos.

Apparently 1 in 10 male sheep will have sex with other rams more than other yews.

Besides that I've heard of bulls doing this, horses doing this, gerbils and even house cats (and we were worried that the two cats wouldn't like each other >_<).

Hell even certain types of flies do it =/,

Cheers,

Answer 10

No it does not validate human homosexuality. besides the undeniable fact that it DOES invalidate the very basic argument given to us that homosexuality isn't organic, and subsequently incorrect. Edit -- because of the fact that homosexuality nevertheless exists, for sure there might desire to be another evolutionary reason at the back of homosexuality. that is not so basic because it could have been wiped out.

Answer 11

Yes, many species of other animals (I say other because HUMANS are animals as well) do indeed have examples of homosexuality among individuals. They reproduce just as often and easily as humans do.
Penguins, Bonobo Apes, even Dolphins. Almost all mamals as well as many bird species have been studied and found to have examples of homosexuality among them.