Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Walrus (Miller and Boness 1983:305); African Elephant (Shelton 1965:163-64); Gorilla (Maple, T. [1977] “Unusual Sexual Behavior of Nonhuman Primates,” in J. Money and H. Musaph, eds., Handbook of Sexology, pp. 1169-70 [Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica]); Sage Grouse (Scott 1942:495); Hanuman Langur (Mohnot 1984:349); Common Chimpanzee (Kortlandt 1962:132); Musk-ox (Reinhardt 1985:297-98); Mallard Duck (Lebret 1961:111—12); Blue-bellied Roller (Moynihan 1990:17); Lion (Cooper 1942:26-28); Orang-utan (Rijksen 1978:257); Savanna Baboon (Noë 1992:295, 311); Mule Deer (Halford et al. 1987:107); Hammerhead (Brown 1982:171; Campbell 1983:11); Bonobo (Thompson-Handler et al. 1984:358; de Waal 1987:319, 1997:102); Japanese Macaque (Green 1975:14); Rhesus Macaque (Reinhardt et al. 1986:56); Red Fox (Macdonald 1980:137); Squirrels (Ferron 1980; Horwich 1972; Reilly 1972). A few of these terms are also applied to nonreproductive heterosexual activities, in which case the attribution of “falseness” refers to the fact that the behavior does not result in procreation rather than to a same-sex context per se. See chapter 5 for further discussion of the parallel treatment of nonreproductive heterosexual behaviors as “abnormal” in the history of zoology.

39

The categorization of homosexual activity as less than “genuine” sexual activity is an important issue, and the various ways that same-sex activity is desexualized will be examined in greater detail in the next section.

40

Bonobo (Kano 1992); Common Chimpanzee (de Waal 1982); Snow Goose (Diamond 1989); Lesser Flamingo (Alraun and Hewston 1997); Oystercatcher (Heg and van Treuren 1998); Black-billed Magpie (Baeyens 1979); Black Stilt (Reed 1993); Fruit Flies (Cook 1975); Long-legged Fly sp. (Dyte 1989).

41

Gowaty, P. A. (1982) “Sexual Terms in Sociobiology: Emotionally Evocative and Paradoxically, Jargon,” Animal Behavior 30:630—31. The title of the article in question (Abele and Gilchrist 1977, on Acanthocephalan Worms) also contained the word rape, so it is possible that scientists were “snickering” at this as well. Gowaty suggests replacing, along with unisexual for homosexual, all “loaded” terminology with more “neutral” words, e.g., forced copulation for rape, kleptogamy for cuckoldry, one-male social unit for harem. Many of her arguments for such alternate terminology are valid, e.g., that the “loaded” terms are often scientifically inaccurate. Notably, however, her principal argument against the word homosexual is not that it is inaccurate, but that use of this term is “sensationalistic” and triggers the prejudices of other scientists, thereby preventing them from seeing past the word to what it describes. It should also be pointed out that many formerly controversial terms for heterosexual behaviors are now acceptable in scientific circles. The word divorce, for example, was first greeted with an “uproar” when used to describe the break-up of pair-bonds in birds, and numerous scientists suggested replacing it with more “neutral” words; yet the term is now widely used in the ornithological literature (Milius, S. [1998] “When Birds Divorce: Who Splits, Who Benefits, and Who Gets the Nest,” p. 153, Science News 153:153-55).

42

Giraffe (Coe 1967:320; Leuthold, W. [1977] African Ungulates: A Comparative Review of Their Ethology and Behavioral Ecology, p. 130 [Berlin: Springer-Verlag]).

43

Connor, J. (1997) “Courtship Testing,” Living Bird 16(3)31-32; Depraz, V, G. Leboucher, L. Nagle, and M. Kreutzer (1997) “‘Sexy’ Songs of Male Canaries: Are They Necessary for Female Nest-Building?” in M. Taborsky and B. Taborsky, eds., Contributions to the XXV International Ethological Conference, p. 122, Advances in Ethology no. 32 (Berlin: Blackwell Wissenschafrs-Verlag); Emlen, S. T., and N. J. Demong (1996) “All in the Family,” Living Bird 15(3):30-34; Savanna Baboon (Smuts 1985:223, 1987:39, 43); Tasmanian Native Hen (Goldizen et al. 1998); Mirande, C. M., and G. Archibald (1990) “Sexual Maturity and Pair Formation in Captive Cranes at the International Crane Foundation,” in AAZPA Annual Conference Proceedings, pp. 216-25 (Wheeling, W.Va.: American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums); Bonobo (de Waal 1997:117); Eisner, T., M.A. Goetz, D. E. Hill, S. R. Smedley and J. Meinwald (1997) “Firefiy ‘Femmes Fatales’ Acquire Defensive Steroids (Lucibufagins) from Their Firefly Prey,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94:9723-28; Domestic Goat (Shank 1972:500). See also the discussion of red-cockaded woodpecker “family values” in chapter 2.

44