Lbian Albatross and Gay Giraff? The Science on Same-Sex Sexualy Animals | Audubon

Contents:

• HOW DO THE FACT THAT THERE ARE GAY/HOMOSEXUAL ANIMALS IMPACT THE IA THAT HOMOSEXUALY IS A S?
• GAY ANIMALS
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?
• LBIAN ALBATROSS AND GAY GIRAFF? THE SCIENCE ON SAME-SEX SEXUALY ANIMALS
• CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?
• 11 ANIMAL SPECI THAT PROVE BEG GAY IS NATURAL

HOW DO THE FACT THAT THERE ARE GAY/HOMOSEXUAL ANIMALS IMPACT THE IA THAT HOMOSEXUALY IS A S?

*Note: We tentnally do not e terms such as “heterosexual” or “homosexual” to prevent any nflatn between human sexualy and nonhuman animal sexual behavrs. It is important to note that the same-sex soc-sexual behavr observed the study is distct om homosexual behavr bee s motivatn and purpose are social, said Jean-Baptiste Le, who studi primate behavr at the Universy of Lethbridge Canada and was not volved the new rearch.

Although Darw’s theory of natural selectn predicts an evolutnary disadvantage for animals that fail to pass along their tras through reproductn wh the oppose sex, the validy of this part of his theory has been qutned wh the disveri of homosexual behavr more than 10% of prevailg speci throughout the world. However, scientific quiry to such behavrs didn’t happen until relatively recently due to historilly pervasive, negative attus towards homosexualy humans.

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. Simply put, the fact that there are animals that exhib what we might ll homosexual behavr do not change the fact that homosexualy is a s for human begs.

GAY ANIMALS

The unrlyg prumptn is that there is not only a st associated wh engagg homosexual activy, but also that variatn such behavr is passed down om one generatn to the next. Even if homosexualy were a sex-lked tra (see prev post) this cince would be unexpectedly high One of the more mon sex-lked tras, red-green lor bldns occurs about 8 percent of men which is far higher than most other leter gen. Regardls of the particular blogil mechanism through which homosexualy aris, is a pervasive phenomenon the animal kgdom, a fact that discreds the mon argument that is "unnatural.

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?

" Acrdg to Joan Roughgarn, a trans-genred blogist who studied such phenomena, there is documented evince of homosexual behavr for some 450 different speci and undocumented reports for about another thoand speci (1). Among primat, perhaps the most pervasive, and most enthiastic exprsn of homosexualy is found amongst bonobos (a speci fairly closely related to mon chimpanze).

In the last post, I argued that exclive homosexualy humans n be partly explaed terms of gen on the X-chromosome that crease reproductive succs for femal who rry them. Homosexual behavr, which has been documented extensively non-human animals, has fascated rearchers for s as prents a paradox for evolutnary blogists.

This review will analyze five key theori explaed by animal mols and three key human-based theori to monstrate that the prent strategy for unrstandg human homosexual behavr is flawed.

LBIAN ALBATROSS AND GAY GIRAFF? THE SCIENCE ON SAME-SEX SEXUALY ANIMALS

We see here exampl of homosexual behavr servg as an adaptatn: ls f femal that uld not acquire a male mate still have the chance to rema petive.

In the exampl of Social Glue theory, sexual behavr (cludg but not limed to homosexual behavr) among members of a speci rults stronger social bonds. Acrdg to the Social Glue Theory, homosexual teractns serve to crease the fns of dividuals, and the behavrs are separate om reproductive behavrs.

CAN ANIMALS BE GAY?

If one male displays homosexual behavr and is not challenged by the other male, domance is rolved and aggrsn is unlikely to occur, but if both mal attempt to mount each other, the teractn may late to a physil ntt. The mate choice pyg strategy has been suggted as an explanatn for the prence of homosexual behavr between male ve-dwellg tooth rp (Tobler et al, 2005).

Dpe this theory, a nfound was noted: if female SSB is at attempt to stimulate male matg, is expected that there would be a rrelatn between the number of femal tend and the number of homosexual dyads, but this was not the se. Th, dividuals across speci that engage the SSBs are not monstratg exclively homosexual behavrs, nor are they showg a preference for homosexual behavr over heterosexual behavr.

Though sexual behavr and preference among humans nstut a broad spectm, a signifint portn of the populatn monstrat exclively homosexual behavrs and preferenc. Havg discsed non-human theori of homosexual behavr, I will now discs three theori that have attempted to expla the persistence of human homosexualy: Balanced Polymorphism Theory, Increased Female Fecundy Theory, and Maternal Immuny Theory. Miller applied this theory to homosexualy, statg that allel which partially prevent androgenizatn male fet would be associated wh a homosexual orientatn.

11 ANIMAL SPECI THAT PROVE BEG GAY IS NATURAL

Matag that homosexualy rulted om androgenizatn-preventg allel, the hypothis was that heterosexual men wh homosexual brothers (HeHo) would have a more of the allel than heterosexual men wh heterosexual brothers (HeHe). This theory stat that femal related to homosexual probands along the maternal le show creased fecundy, which is a large reproductive advantage.