Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Among the attendees who had previously documented or written extensively on animal homosexual behavior, but who were not speaking on this topic, were B. Le Boeuf (Northern Elephant Seals), C. Clark (Right Whales), W. D. Koenig (Acorn Woodpeckers), M. Moynihan (Rufous-naped Tamarins, Pied Kingfishers, Blue-bellied Rollers), A. Srivastava (Hanuman Langurs), F. B. M. de Waal (Bonobos, other primates), and J. C. Wingfield (Gulls). A number of other disconcerting trends were also in evidence among the papers presented during this symposium: for example, many were based on studies of laboratory or captive animals to the exclusion of information on homosexuality/transgender in wild animals. One presenter (Ulibarri) actually went so far as to state that no information was available in English on any behavior of wild Mongolian gerbils, when in fact at least one such study had been published several years earlier in a prominent zoology journal (Ulibarri, C. [1995] “Gonadal Steroid Regulation of Differentiation of Neuroanatomical Structures Underlying Sexual Dimorphic Behavior in Gerbils,” paper presented at the 24^th International Ethological Conference, Honolulu, Hawaii; Ågren, G., Q. Zhou, and W. Zhong [1989] “Ecology and Social Behavior of Mongolian Gerbils, Meriones unguiculatus, at Xilinhot, Inner Mongolia, China,” Animal Behavior 37:11—27).

3

Caprio, F. S. (1954) Female Homosexuality, pp. 19, 76 (New York: Grove); Northern Fur Seal (Bartholomew 1959:168).

4

This idea appears in the descriptions of homosexuality in more than 40 different species of mammals and birds.

5

Homosexuality and related phenomena in animals have even been labeled “heterotypical behavior” (cf. Haug, M., P. F. Brain, and C. Aron, eds., [1991] Heterotypical Behavior in Man and Animals [New York: Chapman and Hall]). The intended meaning of this term is that the behavior of at least one of the partners during same-sex interactions is supposedly “typical” of participants in heterosexual activity, but transposed onto a same-sex context—in other words homosexuality is simply recast as a modified version of heterosexuality.

6

Orange-fronted/Aztec Parakeets (Hardy 1966:77, 1963:171). In a related vein, the vocal and sexual responses of female Stumptail Macaques during orgasm were studied primarily in homosexual, rather than heterosexual, interactions; this information was then generalized or extrapolated to opposite-sex contexts (cf. Goldfoot et al. 1980; Leinonen et al. 1991:245). Likewise, the synchronization of pair-bonding activities in Galahs was typified in one study with quantitative information from same-sex rather than opposite-sex pairs (Rogers and McCulloch 1981:87).

7

Freud, S. (1905/1961) Drei Abhandlungen zur Sexualtheorie (Frankfurt: Fischer); see also Ellis, H. (1936) Sexual Inversion: Studies in the Psychology of Sex (New York: Random House).

8

Morris 1954 (Zebra Finch); Morris 1952 (Ten-spined Stickleback). For a more recent article, see Schlupp et al. 1992 (Amazon Molly). See also Lorenz 1972:21 (Raven) for an early (errroneous) statement to the effect that during same-sex interactions animals only exhibit “purely” masculine or feminine behaviors (as defined by a heterosexual context) rather than any intermediate forms.

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