Can animals be gay? Pengus, flamgos and whal thk so | Environment | The Guardian

Contents:

• HOW GAY DEAD DUCK SEX WAS DISVERED
• CAN ANIMALS REALLY BE GAY?
• DUCK | CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY? PENGUS, FLAMGOS AND WHAL THK SO
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?
• “DEAD DUCK DAY” MARKS THAT TIME A SCIENTIST WNSED GAY DUCK NECROPHILIA

HOW GAY DEAD DUCK SEX WAS DISVERED

Wh all the tert duck sex the days, a lecture by the scientist who disvered gay mallard necrophilia seems timely.

In a TED Talk posted onle this month, Dutch blogist Ke Moeliker, a curator at the Natural History Mm Rotterdam, explas how he beme the first scientist to document homosexual necrophilia ducks. And, look, both are of the male sex — homosexual necrophilia, '" Moeliker told the dience. In the 1960s, he was the wild observg the big horns and saw that they basilly live an entirely homosexual society until the age of six or seven.

CAN ANIMALS REALLY BE GAY?

But the fdg don’t make some male squid gay or bi, lead thor Hendrik Hovg told the New York Tim. An evolutnary advantage is harr to theorize for female Japane maqu, which don’t seem to e gay sex to form allianc, to get parentg help, as an exprsn of domance or submissn, or bee oppose sex partners are srce.

“The liv of male bottlenose dolphs are characterized by extensive bisexualy, bed wh perds of exclive homosexualy, ” wr Canadian blogist Bce Bagemihl Blogil Exuberance: Animal Homosexualy and Natural Diversy. Some male Humboldt pengus mata lifelong homosexual pair bonds, never matg wh a female.

DUCK | CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?

(They’re among the only animals one might get away wh llg gay, a term that scientists unrstandably avoid when discsg non-human animals.

by: Gayle Guyardo.

In the new YA tle Queer Ducks (and Other Animals), two-time Natnal Book Award falist and New York Tim btsellg thor Elt Schrefer jos Gayle Guyardo the host of the natnally syndite health and wellns show Bloom and prents a well-rearched exploratn of queer behavr the animal world—om albatross to bonobos to clownfish and sharp and wty prose—aid by humoro ics om artist Jul Zuckerberg—Schrefer science, history, anthropology, and soclogy to illtrate the diversy of sexual behavr the animal world.

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY? PENGUS, FLAMGOS AND WHAL THK SO

In the idyllic settg of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Tst Slimbridge, 325 hectar of Glouctershire wetland alive wh water vol and dragonfli and the world's largt llectn of swans, gee, and ducks, live a pair of gay flamgos named Carlos and Fernando.

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?

This week, the pair were given the rponsibily of raisg a newly hatched flamgo that has been rejected by s qutn of whether animals n be homosexual has been extensively explored.

In 1999, Blogil Exuberance: Animal Homosexualy and Natural Diversy, the rult of 10 years of rearch by Bce Bagemihl, documented many s of homosexual behavur animals. Last year, an exhibn at the Universy of Oslo's Natural History Mm showed 51 exampl of animals displayg homosexual behavur - om female bonobos that b their genals together to male killer whal ridg the dorsal fs of other the avian world, nearly a quarter of black swan fai are parented by homosexual upl, the mal sometim matg wh a female simply to have a chick. Homosexualy flamgos is also relatively mon.

“DEAD DUCK DAY” MARKS THAT TIME A SCIENTIST WNSED GAY DUCK NECROPHILIA

In the se of Carlos and Fernando, both assume the male rol durg the urtship rual - preeng, stttg and wavg their heads vigoroly om si to are other famo gay animal pairgs. Central Park zoo Manhattan had a famo pair of gay chstrap pengus named Roy and Silo, who were separable for more than six years. Wh most speci, homosexual sex has been documented only sporadilly, and there appear to be few s of dividual animals who engage exclively.

“This lony is lerally the largt proportn of — I don’t know what the rrect term is: ‘homosexual animals’? ” But the journal that published the paper, Blogy Letters, sent out a prs release a few days after the California Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.