Gay animals | Psychology Today

Contents:

• MALE LN CGHT “MATG” WH MALE LN… GAY PRI? NOT QUE
• GAY ANIMALS: ALTERNATE LIFTYL THE WILD
• 5 ANIMAL SPECI THAT ARE TOTALLY GAY
• THE FABULO KGDOM OF GAY ANIMALS
• GAY ANIMALS
• GAY ANIMALS OUT OF THE CLOSET?

MALE LN CGHT “MATG” WH MALE LN… GAY PRI? NOT QUE

Asked by: Jack England, DorchterHomosexual behavur has been observed at least 1, 500 different animal speci. In fact, no speci has actually been monstrated to show no cince of homosexual behavur at all, apart om those that don't actually have sex.

However, scientific quiry to such behavrs didn’t happen until relatively recently due to historilly pervasive, negative attus towards homosexualy humans. New work by evolutnary blogists suggts that perhaps, bld by historil homophobia, we have been askg the wrong qutn all along.

In the past, was thought that female maqu engage homosexual relatnships this way only when suable mal are not prent.

GAY ANIMALS: ALTERNATE LIFTYL THE WILD

In other words, rearchers assumed that homosexual behavr only happens when animals are isolated om members of the oppose sex.

5 ANIMAL SPECI THAT ARE TOTALLY GAY

Therefore, acrdg to experts, many female Japane maqu nnot be nsired eher preferentially homo- or heterosexual. On the other hand, bee female maqu will reproduce wh mal throughout their lifetime regardls of their tert homosexual behavr, the end the relatnships do not acce any st to lifetime reproductn. But new rearch shows that even the direct benefs are not required for the persistence of homosexual behavr animals.

THE FABULO KGDOM OF GAY ANIMALS

But forays to animal homosexualy rearch long predate Levick, wh observatns published as far back as the 1700s and 1800s. More than 200 years later, rearch has moved past some of the taboos those early rearchers faced and shown that homosexualy is much more mon than prevly thought. Rearchers are now gog beyond jt observg though, wh rearchers at Imperial leadg the way unravellg how, and why, homosexualy is found across nature.

This suggts that homosexual activy is not a recent human nstct, cultural or even evolutnary terms, but stead occurs along many branch on the tree of life. Scientists argued homosexualy was a sort of 'Darwian paradox' bee volved sexual behavur that was non-reproductive.

In 2016, Savolaen started some work on animal homosexualy, begng wh a chapter on the Evolutn of Homosexualy. In 1896, French entomologist Henri Ga Kerville published one of the first scientific illtratns of animal homosexualy.

GAY ANIMALS

Female homosexualy has been well studied Japane maqu, but Clive's rearch would exame how homosexual behavur differs mal and across environments. Rerdg homosexual behavur the wild and llectg blood sampl are the first steps for Clive; the next is sequencg DNA to search for nnectns between the behavur and geic markers. This ia stemmed om a study showg a rrelatn between geic marker Xq28 and male homosexualy, although there were statistil uncertati about some of the fdgs.

Then they n see what this should look like the real blogil and heredary factors of homosexualy are most certaly not tied to a sgle gene.

GAY ANIMALS OUT OF THE CLOSET?

Meanwhile, others pos that homosexualy uld also play a role evolutn through -parentg or helpg to raise relativ' offsprg. The explanatns are not exclive of one another, and is likely that a batn of factors are important for the evolutn of homosexualy. Importantly, this will clu exploratn of homosexual partners the hope of unrstandg different mate-choice strategi reproductive and non-reproductive ntexts.