Homosexuality in the Animal World

[injest]

I may have this in the wrong forum...but didn't want to discuss this in a public forum right off...wanted to get some feedback first.

There was a study done recently on flamingoes at the Dallas zoo...

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/021907dnmetpinkpartners.14b95c0.html

they form same sex pairs for life. the hierarchy in flamingo society is male/male at the top....male/female is the second group and female/female is the bottom. The male/male pairings will steal eggs from a m/f pairing and raise the chicks themselves...

odd to me that they would do that (pair up in same sex pairs)...I mean aren't we told repeatedly by the right wing nuts that homosexuality is 'unnatural'? Then what is up with the flamingos? They watch too much tv? got molested when they were kids? what?

I have always noticed that the geldings became VERY attached to one another...the mares less so although they certainly form friendships...

so it seems to me...(and remember I am just a ol country girl) that something the animals do...can't be called 'unnatural'...has to be encoded in the genes..

comments? am I treading where I shouldn't??

[delalluvia]

*sigh*

Why are females always bottom dog?

[Sheriff Roland]

*sigh*

Why are females always bottom dog?

The strength thing - primal, but universal.

[Front-Ranger]

It appears that homosexuality is common in the animal world as it is in the human world. I was reading David McCumber's book, The Cowboy Way, and in the spring, cowboys determine when the heifers are going into estrus by taping a packet of red dye to their backs. When a heifer goes into estrus, she is mounted by the other heifers. They break the packet and the red dye is spread on the flanks. Then, the cowboys know to separate that heifer over with the other breeding ones and initiate artificial insemination.

[Aussie Chris]

Hi Jess, tread away, it's quite the revelation isn't it?  Humans didn't invent homosexuality!

As well as the flamingos, there's been several somewhat reasonably well documented cases of homosexuality with penguins over recent years.  Here are a couple of articles regarding penguins in New York:  in 2002 with Wendell and Cass: http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/studentwork/cns/2002-06-10/591.asp, and then later in 2004 with Roy and Silo: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/07/MNG3N4RAV41.DTL

But more recently there was another collection of penguins in Germany where the keepers couldn't understand why the pairs weren't producing any chicks only to find out that most of them were male, and quite happily nesting in monogamous gay pairs.  They figured that the solution was to import some females from Sweden to tempt the males in to becoming straight: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1275591.html only to find that (human) gay rights groups objected to the plan: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1284769.html.

The naysayers have tried to suggest that animals "revert to homosexuality" only when the opposite sex was not available, but perhaps the New York cases dispute this as the paired males do not seem to wish to change.  I forget the name of it, but I watched a documentary last year of animal homosexuality that documented same sex relationships outside of procreation demonstrated many species willingness to bond with great affection as opposed to the procreation pairing that's just about the copulation (and typically not affectionate).

[injest]

our stallion has a 'best friend'; a gelding that he is very fond of. They have never been turned out together but they live next door to each other and stand for hours nuzzling each other over the fence.

[Aussie Chris]

our stallion has a 'best friend'; a gelding that he is very fond of. They have never been turned out together but they live next door to each other and stand for hours nuzzling each other over the fence.

How romantic - the very essence of relationships!  Sometimes I wonder sexuality would be much easier to deal with if it wasn't for the sex.

[David]

How romantic - the very essence of relationships!  Sometimes I wonder sexuality would be much easier to deal with if it wasn't for the sex.

Yup.  There are all kinds of relationships.

I had two straight coworkers (mechanics) at my last job.    When one was out sick, then other sat alone and noticably pouted.      One of the guys said :"Gee, you think Eddie has a non-sexual crush on Jimmy?"

I laughed and said : "I think your right.   A crush doesn't mean it has to be sexual."

[shortfiction]

    I read a bit about this in a book called Why do men fall asleep after sex?  (and other questions)
   
    Homosexual behavior has been observed in hundreds of species--flamingoes, penguins, lizards, rams, and more.

[spruceman]

Recall a show a couple years back on Discovery Channel Canada documenting homosexual beahviour among many animal species.  Too bad they didnt show it in the USA on one the Discovery Channels here -- prolly too controversial to be shown for the American audience.