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

Contents:

• 80% OF GAY SWAN UPL SUCCSFULLY RAISE THEIR YOUNG, PARED TO 30% OF STRAIGHT SWAN UPL. (GENR SHOWSE, 9-12)
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY? PENGUS, FLAMGOS AND WHAL THK SO
• GAY SWANS ARE EPLY LOVE AS THEY MAKE A NT AND EVEN HAVE LOVERS' QUARRELS
• WHY IT'S OK FOR BIRDS TO BE GAY
• GAY SWANS ATRIA ATTACKED HUMANS TO PROTECT THEIR ADOPTED BABY: A PLASTIC CUP

80% OF GAY SWAN UPL SUCCSFULLY RAISE THEIR YOUNG, PARED TO 30% OF STRAIGHT SWAN UPL. (GENR SHOWSE, 9-12)

80% of gay black swan upl succsfully raise their young, but only 30% of straight swan upl succsfully raise their young. Gay swans may even raise offsprg together as a uple.

A full 80-percent of the gay upl succsfully fledge their young, pared wh 30 percent for straight upl. A first-ever mm display, "Agast Nature?, " which opened last month at the Universy of Oslo's Natural History Mm Norway, prents 51 speci of animals exhibg homosexualy.

"Homosexualy has been observed more than 1, 500 speci, and the phenomenon has been well scribed for 500 of them, " said Petter Bockman, project ordator of the ia, however, is rarely discsed the scientific muny and is often dismissed as unnatural bee don't appear to benef the larger e of speci ntuatn. Conversely, some argue that homosexual sex uld have a bigger natural e than jt pure ecstasy: namely evolutnary benefs. In suatns when a speci is mostly bisexual, homosexual relatnships allow an animal to jo a pack.

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

"In some bird speci that bond for life, homosexual pairs raise young. "Mom and Dad and Dad Almost a quarter of black swan fai are parented by homosexual upl.

GAY SWANS ARE EPLY LOVE AS THEY MAKE A NT AND EVEN HAVE LOVERS' QUARRELS

"Homosexualy" and "heterosexualy" are terms fed by societal boundari, visible the animal kgdom. In one speci of gecko, femal clone most plex issu, animal homosexualy is challengg and poorly unrstood.

WHY IT'S OK FOR BIRDS TO BE GAY

"I've had primatologists offer to give me their data on homosexual behavr bee they didn't want to publish , " Wolfe said. " was set up partly to mystify the argument that a homosexual way of livg nnot be accepted bee is agast the "laws of nature" n now be rejected scientifilly, said Geir Soli, project lear for the exhibn.

"To learn more, see LiveScience's Top 10 prentatn, Gay Animals: Alternate Liftyl the Really Wild StoriSpir Cri Out While MatgThe Paful Reali of Hyena SexSalmon of Small Stature Endowed wh Matg AdvantageWell-fed Crickets Seek Sex Incsantly, Die YoungMystery of Empty Chicken Sex SolvedSmart Bats Have Smaller Tticl.

GAY SWANS ATRIA ATTACKED HUMANS TO PROTECT THEIR ADOPTED BABY: A PLASTIC CUP

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. 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.