Same-Sex Shenanigans Performed by Nearly ALL Animals
Filed by: Prince Gomolvilas
July 6, 2009 9:30 AM
We've reported about queer behavior in the animal kingdom previously on Bilerico 
(gay penguins! more gay penguins! even more gay penguins! still even more gay penguins!), so I don't know how we missed this bombshell of an announcement from the scientific community last month: same-sex behavior can be found in nearly all - all! - species in the animal kingdom!
That's right! While past research has uncovered some cute instances of same-sex couplings - in penguins, bonobos, dolphins, and fruit flies, for example - a new report from the University of California, Riverside, declares that alternative lifestyles are nothing new and by no means rare. In fact, it's freakin' rampant.
Postdoctoral researcher Nathan Bailey says, "It's clear that same-sex sexual behavior extends far beyond the well-known examples that dominate both the scientific and popular literature."
And since males have been stealing the gay-animals thunder for quite some time, it's refreshing to learn about female Laysan Albatross, pictured above. While male bottlenose dolphins "engage in same-sex interactions to facilitate group bonding," Bailey claims, "female Laysan Albatross...can remain pair-bonded for life."
The door is wide open here for gay man vs. lesbian analogies, which I will generously allow you, dear readers, to make because I don't feel like getting flamed today, ha ha ha!
[h/t Peter at Plastic Bubble World]
Share
Like what you read? Subscribe to The Bilerico Project by Email.
Want others to read it too? Use the buttons and links here to share this entry with others. (Move your cursor over a button or link to learn more about it.)
11 Comments
« Something in Each Other | Home | The Prerequisites to "Woman" »
I mentioned this in a discussion and the replies to this are:
1. Humans are special in the eyes of god and are NOT animals
2. Mutation is everywhere in nature
3. it doesn't matter because animals do all sorts of things that would be considered sinful in the eyes of god if they were human
Patrick | July 6, 2009 5:16 PM
Reply to this comment
Oh, go peddle it somewhere else.
Prince Gomolvilas | July 6, 2009 5:37 PM
Reply to this comment
LOL - Patrick is an ally, Prince. He's a regular Projector.
I think he's trying to give us the rebuttals the religious right is trying to use.
Bil Browning | July 6, 2009 5:39 PM
Reply to this comment
Oh, ha ha ha ha ha! I'm in an argumentative mood! Why won't people argue with me?! :)
Prince Gomolvilas | July 6, 2009 5:43 PM
Reply to this comment
You are not in an argumentative mood.
How's that for a start? :)
Bil Browning | July 6, 2009 5:59 PM
Reply to this comment
Bill, stop picking on Prince.
Rob Barton | July 6, 2009 8:20 PM
Reply to this comment
Them's fightin' words, Bil.
Prince Gomolvilas | July 6, 2009 9:02 PM
Reply to this comment
Actually this has long been a good weapon for me in debate. When people say that it isn't natural I point out that literally hundreds of animals have been found to engage in both hetero and homosexual behavior. This comes in real handy when someone questions the reality of bisexuality also.
Insects, invertabrates and vertebrates are all known to do this. Even our closest primate relatives. If humans didn't engage in hetero and homosexual behavior we would be an oddity in the world and then we would be unnatural.
Rob Barton | July 6, 2009 10:37 PM
Reply to this comment
ancient history. Bruce Bagamihl's Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity was published in 1999.
His research was cited in major cases overturning homophobic laws. major publications include research by: Joan Roughgarden, Bruce Bagemihl, Thierry Lodé and Paul Vasey. see urls below
Dr. Roughgarden is a major ecologist and a transwoman: her work: Evolution's Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden. her work has featured in SCIENCE.
Evolution's Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden. ... Diversity, Gender and Sexuality in Nature and People. Joan Roughgarden. University of California Press, 2004.
www.joandistrict6.com/ - Cached - Similar -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Bagemihl
http://www.nndb.com/people/033/000044898/
1.
JOAN E. ROUGHGARDEN
22 Nov 2004 ... JOAN E. ROUGHGARDEN Department of Biological Sciences Stanford University Stanford CA 94305-5020. Tel: (650) 723-3648 ...
www.stanford.edu/group/roughlab/rough.html
2.
roughgarden lab home
Roughgarden Research Group (Guerrilla Ecology, Ltd). Projects, people.
www.stanford.edu/group/roughlab/
Isa Kocher | July 7, 2009 7:51 AM
Reply to this comment
short list of dr roughgarden's work
bilerico should interview her and bagamihl
http://www.librarything.com/author/roughgardenjoan
* Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People 111 copies, 3 reviews
* Evolution and Christian Faith: Reflections of an Evolutionary Biologist 28 copies
* The Genial Gene: Deconstructing Darwinian Selfishness 3 copies
* Primer of Ecological Theory 3 copies
* Theory of population genetics and evolutionary ecology : an introduction 3 copies
* Perspectives in Ecological Theory 2 copies
* Anolis Lizards of the Caribbean: Ecology, Evolution, and Plate Tectonics… 1 copy
* Perspectives in Ecological Theory 1 copy
* How to manage fisheries 1 copy
Isa Kocher | July 7, 2009 7:56 AM
Reply to this comment
understanding gay history down through the ages, back to greece and all the other parts of antiquity; along with understanding that the animal world is also as gay as me - these are things that provide validation. for one who questioned for so many years before finally allowing myself to recognize my gay self, i find affirmation in the history of mankind and now animal-kind, too.
i like rob's stance in that we would be seen as an oddity and unnatural were it not for our same-sex love and enjoyment.
george | July 7, 2009 8:51 AM
Reply to this comment