Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

One cannot help but surmise that it is the heterosexism of many biologists that has led them to focus on mounting behavior to the exclusion of other activities in their appeal to dominance factors—for only in mounting can the positions of the participants be clearly analogized to those of a male and female in a heterosexual interaction. As Fedigan (1982:101 [Japanese Macaque]) points out, underlying the entire discussion of dominance in same-sex interactions is the assumption that homosexual mounting is essentially a transposition from heterosexual copulation—and that males “dominate” females in such interactions. For further evidence against this view, see the discussion of homosexuality as a form of “pseudoheterosexuality” in chapter 4.

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Possible exceptions are same-sex courtship interactions in Mountain Sheep (Geist 1968, 1971), Musk-oxen (Reinhardt 1985), and Cavies (Rood 1972), which have been interpreted as reflecting dominance. Additionally, mounting or other sexual behaviors within a same-sex pair-bond—common in many bird species—does not fit easily into a dominance interpretation, since this usually involves ongoing interaction with only one other animal (rather than the establishment of hierarchical positions within a network of individuals).

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Giraffe (Pratt and Anderson 1985:774—75, 780—81); Crested Black Macaque (Dixson 1977:77-78; Reed et al. 1997:255); Stumptail Macaque (Bernstein 1980:40); Pig-tailed Macaque (Giacoma and Messeri 1992:187); Savanna (Olive) Baboon (Owens 1976:250-51); Squirrel Monkey (Baldwin and Baldwin 1981:295-97; Baldwin 1968:296, 311); Red Squirrel (Ferron 1980:136); Spinifex Hopping Mouse (Happold 1976:147); American Bison (Reinhardt 1985:222-23); Pukeko (Lambert et al. 1994); Sociable Weaver (Collias and Collias 1980:246, 248; in the latter instance, the inconsistency in dominance status was not one of the cases of temporary reversals of dominance that were occasionally seen in this species). In female Squirrel Monkeys, dominance hierarchies are not considered to be a salient feature of social organization in the wild (Baldwin and Baldwin 1981:294-95). However, even when dominance systems appear to develop (e.g., in some captive situations), investigators have found that the rank of females based on their homosexual activities does not agree with other measures of rank (Anschel and Talmage-Riggs 1978:602 [table 1]).

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For some reevaluation and/or critiques of the concept of dominance, see Gartlan, J. S. (1968) “Structure and Function in Primate Society,” Folia Primatologica 8:89-120; Bernstein 1970 (Crab-eating Macaque); Richards, S. M. (1974) “The Concept of Dominance and Methods of Assessment,” Animal Behavior 22:914— 30; Ralls, K. (1976) “Mammals in Which Females Are Larger Than Males,” Quarterly Review of Biology 51:245-76; Lockwood, R. (1979) “Dominance in Wolves: Useful Construct or Bad Habit?” in E. Klingham-mer, ed., Behavior and Ecology of Wolves, pp. 225-44 (New York: Garland); Baldwin and Baldwin 1981 (Squirrel Monkey); Bernstein, I. S. (1981) “Dominance: The Baby and the Bathwater,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 4:419-57; Hand, J. L. (1986) “Resolution of Social Conflicts: Dominance, Egalitarianism, Spheres of Dominance, and Game Theory,” Quarterly Review of Biology 61:201-20; Walters, J. R., and R. M. Seyfarth (1987) “Conflict and Cooperation,” in B. B. Smuts, D. L. Cheney, R. M. Seyfarth, R. W. Wrangham, and T. T. Struhsaker, eds., Primate Societies, pp. 306-17 (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press); Drews, C. (1993) “The Concept and Definition of Dominance in Animal Behavior,” Behavior 125:283-313; Lambert et al. 1994 (Pukeko).

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Fedigan 1982:92-93 (Japanese Macaque).

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Bonobo (Kano 1992:253-54; Kitamura 1989:57, 63); Gorilla (Harcourt et al. 1981:276; Yamagiwa 1987a:25; Harcourt 1988:59); Hanuman Langur (J. J. Moore, in Weinrich 1980:292); Japanese Macaque (Vasey 1996:549; Chapais and Mignault 1991:175-76; Tartabini 1978:433, 435; Hanby 1974:841); Rhesus Macaque (Akers and Conaway 1979:78; Reinhardt et al. 1986:55; Gordon and Bernstein 1973:224); Pig-tailed Macaque (Tokuda et al. 1968:293); Crested Black Macaque (Dixson 1977:77-78; Poirier 1964:20, 49; Reed et al. 1997:255); Savanna Baboon (Owens 1976:256); Gelada Baboon (Mori 1979:134-35; R.Wrangham, in Weinrich 1980:291); Squirrel Monkey (Talmage-Riggs and Anschel 1973:70); Bottlenose Dolphin (Caldwell and Caldwell 1972:427); Blackbuck (Dubost and Feer 1981:89-90); Giraffe (Pratt and Anderson 1985:774— 75, 780); American Bison (Reinhardt 1985:222, 1987:8); Red Squirrel (Ferron 1980:136); Little Blue Heron (Werschkul 1982:383-84); Tree Swallow (Lombardo et al. 1994:556).

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