Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

It must also be remembered that it is often extremely difficult to observe some species in the wild or obtain detailed information about their behavior. Many animals in which homosexuality has only been seen in captivity present formidable challenges to field study. Some are nocturnal (active only at night) or crepuscular (active at dusk or dawn), such as Lesser Bushbabies (and other Lemurs), Wolves, Rufous Bettongs, and Black-crowned Night Herons. Others are diurnal (active in the daytime) but engage in sexual behavior mostly at night (e.g., Red Deer). This can greatly hamper efforts to observe sexual activity: homosexual mounting in Red Foxes, for example, was only discovered by setting up remote-control infrared video cameras to continuously monitor nighttime activities in a captive population—virtually impossible to do under field conditions. Other species are highly elusive: Bush Dogs, for example, have rarely even been sighted in the wild, let alone studied, and the most complete analysis of their social organization in captivity was only published in 1996. Likewise, the elusiveness of Pig-tailed Macaques precluded detailed field observations until the early 1990s, while the first in-depth behavioral studies of wild Crested Black Macaques were published in 1997. Sometimes the inaccessibility of the animal’s habitat poses nearly insurmountable hurdles: Siamang Gibbons, for example, frequent the jungle canopy as much as 120 feet above the ground, and homosexuality in the closely related, and equally arboreal, White-handed Gibbon was not discovered in the wild until 1991. Whales and Dolphins spend less than 20 percent of their time at the surface of the water, and underwater observation (where sexual activity often occurs) is frequently impractical.¹⁰⁵ This is compounded by the fact that recognition of individual animals and determination of their sex—essential for obtaining detailed behavioral data—is also usually extremely difficult. An animal’s size can also be a factor: few behavioral observations of wild Apereas have been made because they are so small and their social activities are often hidden in dense grass and brush. Small size (among other factors) also hampers field observations of Squirrel Monkeys, Rufous-naped Tamarins, and Rufous Bettongs. The latter species is also largely asocial or solitary, a problem encountered as well in Bears and numerous other carnivores, where many thousands of hours of observation in the field often yield precious little information about social or sexual interactions.

Because sexual activity in Red Foxes usually takes place at night, scientists were only able to document homosexual activity by using remote-control video cameras, set up in an enclosure illuminated by infrared light. In these two stills taken from the videotape, a younger female Red Fox mounts her mother.

Even for species that are not difficult to observe, enormous time must still be invested in observation and quantification of behaviors before a reasonably complete picture of the animals’ habits can be pieced together. Zoologists have estimated that to obtain a good working understanding of a species, three field-workers would need to invest two years and 2,000 hours of observation time—yet even this may not be enough. Over a dozen scientists studying Orang-utans, for example, have collectively spent more than ten times this amount—20 years and a combined total of 22,000 hours of field observation—yet they admit that many aspects of the behavior of this species are still poorly understood. Likewise, zoologists involved in a comprehensive study of Oystercatcher behavior in the wild did not observe homosexual activities until nearly a decade into their research project.¹⁰⁶ It’s no wonder, then, that many behaviors, including homosexuality, are just beginning to be documented in the wild or have yet to be observed outside of captivity. In summarizing wild versus captive comparisons of animal behavior, Jane Goodall has remarked, “If a primate shows behavior in captivity which has not been observed in the wild, this by no means implies that it does not occur in the wild.”¹⁰⁷ The history of the study of animal homosexuality has shown this to be a truism, not just for primates, but for all species.

Hormonal Imbalances and Other Monstrosities