Can animals be homosexual?

Question

Can they?? I have heard mixed anwers!

Answer 1

Male monkeys will have sex with both male
and female monkeys. I'm not sure if animals
are really ever homosexual though (as in
preferring only their same sex).

Answer 2

There are heaps of animals that will have recreational sex with the same gender. Baboons, sticklebacks (?!), hell, most monkeys. But homosexuals kind of means they are ONLY attracted to the same gender - the best example here is swans, I reckon. Swans mate for life, but there have been a few well documented cases where two male swans have settled into a lifelong relationship with each other and not had female mates.

Ultimately you can't really compare animal homosexuality to human homosexuality because human social constructs are so much different - sad as it is being gay as a human means so much more than the occasional bit of arousal over someone of your own sex.

Answer 3

well...

they can and they DO commit homosexual acts, and i even heard of a few that restrict themselves to such activity.

does make them homosexual in the human way? i am not sure. biologists are quick to find completely plausible natural causes for such behavior in animals, and maybe they are right.

after all, to be homosexual as we understand it, there is an element of choice, of free will... a feat that i am slow to accredit to any wild animal, and certainly not to any without warm blood.

conclusive proof of free choice in animals is sparse and only ever found in domesticated beasts, the more, the closer they were affiliated to mankind, like cats and dogs and horses.... i guess human spirit is contageous.

Answer 4

That's an interesting question I've wondered about myself. I don't know the correct answer though, and I've never witnessed any animals of the same gender making out.

Answer 5

Here are some links that might answer your question.

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

http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/061116_homosexual_animals.html


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15750604/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4352011/

http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Animals-Can-Be-Homosexual-Too-39086.shtml

I doubt most animals can be homo though because they have the "instinct" to have sex. Dogs don't have sex because they are attracted to each other by looks. It is an 'instinct' to have sex and reproduce for many animals. But, I believe certain birds can be homosexual.

Answer 6

I am not sure if they label themselves as such but cats and dogs will sometimes try to get on an animal of their own sex...Tom cats have been known to go after neutered males.....and dogs ...well dogs go after dolls, rabbits, peoples feet, legs, so I guess they aren't too fussy...

Answer 7

I'm not sure if full blown homosexual, but I think they are all bi. I havn't seen an animal that HASN'T swung both ways.

Answer 8

Well, I had two male rabbits that thinks the other one is a female and so,, and when it was the "mating season"(or whatever it is called -_-), I had a really hard time separating them..

Answer 9

I saw two dogs in action a few weeks ago. They were both male, so the answer is yes.

Answer 10

I don't think you'd call it homosexual. It is just animal instinct to procreate. Thats it!