Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Another problem with attributing homosexual interactions to mistaken sex identification is that it can (at most) account for the initial interest of one animal in another of the same sex. It cannot explain why the animal “mistaken” for the opposite sex often willingly participates in the homosexual interaction or may even initiate it. Even if homosexual pairs in Antbirds, for example, result from an initial failure on the part of a courting male to distinguish between the sexes (as has been claimed), such pairs could not persist for years unless both males were actively fostering the bond between them (or at the very least, not resisting the homosexual relationship). As scientists studying homosexual matings in Tree Swallows have pointed out, even if males mistake other males for females (which is not likely), the males they copulate with nevertheless do not resist their homosexual advances and even actively facilitate genital contact. Notably, they do not adopt the specific tactics used by birds in this species to deter unwanted sexual advances (typically displayed by females in heterosexual contexts). While male Black-crowned Night Herons may court males and females indiscriminately, their male partners are nevertheless sexually stimulated by the performance and may go on to form a homosexual pair-bond with them. In Regent Bowerbirds, “female-resembling” adolescent males may actually initiate courtship display toward adult males (the reverse of the usual scenario in cases of “mistaken” sex identification). Finally, male Greenshanks who visit other males’ territories and are “mistaken” for females actively precipitate homosexual courtship pursuits: they depart from the territory using a special swerving flight pattern that invites the other male to follow them (also used by females during heterosexual courtships). If they did not want to spark a homosexual courtship, they could simply employ any of the several strategies used by females to deter males’ advances in this species, such as leaving the territory in a direct flight path or “leapfrogging” over a pursuing male during a ground chase—yet these are not typically part of homosexual interactions.⁸⁹ Thus, even if mistaken sex recognition is responsible for bringing two animals of the same sex together, it is ultimately irrelevant in explaining why those two animals often remain together to continue their interaction and bring it to its full conclusion, be it a completed courtship or mating episode, or a pair-bond lasting many years.⁹⁰

In summary, a whole host of considerations cast serious doubt on mistaken sex recognition or indiscriminate mating as an explanation with wide applicability (or credibility). Once again, the complexities of animal behavior elude the broad brushstrokes of human interpretation. Numerous interconnected elements must be factored in, such as the subtleties of actual physical differences between the sexes, the strength and acuity of animals’ various perceptual abilities, differential behaviors between males and females, the active participation of individuals “mistaken” for the opposite sex, and the intricacies that arise when transgender is layered over homosexuality. In the end, the most significant “misrecognition” is probably not that of animals who overlook each other’s sex, but that of scientists who fail to recognize the importance and interplay of these factors. Nevertheless, even if mating or courtship in some species is in fact random or indiscriminate between males and females, such “randomness” is actually compelling evidence (once again) for a bisexual capacity in such creatures. This in itself is a vital observation that is frequently downplayed by scientists, who all too readily discount the homosexual part of this mating equation as a necessary “error” made by animals on their path to achieving greater heterosexual output. In such a mechanistic view, animals simply mate with as many partners as they can—male or female—to maximize their reproductive success, even if it means that some of their matings will be nonreproductive. The fact remains, however, that such animals have the ability to respond sexually to individuals of their own sex—and they do so repeatedly, with apparent enthusiasm, and (one might add) noticeable disregard for the “mistakes” they are making.

“Gross Abnormalities of Behavior”—Homosexuality as Pathology