Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Common Garter Snake (Mason 1993:261, 264; Mason et al. 1989:292; Mason and Crews 1985; Noble 1937:710–11); other species (Muma, K., and P. J. Weatherhead [1989] “Male Traits Expressed in Females: Direct or Indirect Sexual Selection?” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 25:23-31; Potti, J. [1993] “A Male Trait Expressed in Female Pied Flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca: The White Forehead Patch,” Animal Behavior 45:1245-47 [cf. also Sætre and Slagsvold 1992:295-96]; Tella, J.L., M. G. Forero, J.A. Donázar, and F. Hiraldo [1997] “Is the Expression of Male Traits in Female Lesser Kestrels Related to Sexual Selection?” Ethology 103:72-81; McDonald, D. B. [1993] “Delayed Plumage Maturation and Orderly Queues for Status: A Manakin Mannequin Experiment,” p. 38, Ethology 94:31-45). Experimental “disguising” of individuals to look like the opposite sex does not automatically induce “homosexual” behavior either. Female Chaffinches whose plumage has been painted to resemble male patterns, for example, are not courted by (nor do they form pair-bonds with) other females that “mistake” them for males (Marler 1955). Homosexual pairing does occur in this species, but between females that do not look like males. Likewise, yellowthroats (a bird species) are able to recognize the “true” sex of both males and females whose facial coloration has been manipulated to make them resemble the opposite sex. Similar results have been found for damselflies (Lewis, D. M. [1972] “Importance of Face-Mask in Sexual Recognition and Territorial Behavior in the Yellowthroat,” Jack-Pine Warbler 50:98-109; Gorb, S. N. [1997] “Directionality of Tandem Response by Males of a Damselfly, Coena-grion puella,” in M. Taborsky and B. Taborsky, eds., Contributions to the XXV International Ethological Conference, p. 138. Advances in Ethology no. 32 [Berlin: Blackwell Wissenschafts-Verlag]). In addition, in species such as lazuli buntings where juvenile males resemble adult females, experimental studies have demonstrated that adult males are in fact consistently able to distinguish the two sexes (Muehter, V. R., E. Greene, and L. Ratcliffe [1997] “Delayed Plumage Maturation in Lazuli Buntings: Tests of the Female Mimicry and Status Signalling Hypotheses,” Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 41:281–90).

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Tree Swallow (Lombardo et al. 1994:555–56; Venier et al. 1993; Venier and Robertson 1991); Black-crowned Night Heron (Noble et al. 1938:29); Regent Bowcrbird (Marshall 1954:114-16); Greenshank (Nethersole-Thompson and Nethersole-Thompson 1979:114; Nethersole-Thompson 1951:104). In Tree Swallows, it is also unlikely that males cooperate during homosexual copulations in order to “appease” the birds mounting them and thereby avoid attack or injury (as suggested by Lonrbsrdo et al. 1994:556). Aggressive attacks in this species are characterized by a number of distinctive behavioral elements on the part of both the attacker (e.g., threat displays, grappling, pecking) and the bird being attacked (e.g., appeasement displays, submissive and distress calling) (cf. Robertson et al. 1992:6, 8)—and homosexual mountings exhibit none of these hallmarks.

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Such cases contrast markedly with ones in which the pursued animal is clearly not a willing participant, such as Mountain Goats, Common Murres, or Anna’s Hummingbirds. In these instances, however, there are other arguments against a sex misrecognition analysis (as mentioned previously).

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Swans (Kear 1972:85-86).

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Wattled Starling (Sontag 1991:6); Common Chimpanzee (Kollar et al. 1968:444, 458); Gorilla (Coffin 1978:67); Stumptail Macaque (Bernstein 1980:32); Musk-ox (Reinhardt 1985:298-99); Koala (Smith 1980:186); Long-eared Hedgehog (Poduschka 1981:81; Reeve 1994:189); Vampire Bat (Greenhall 1965:442); Black-crowned Night Heron (Noble et al. 1938:14, 28-29). Factors such as stress or crowding have also been invoked for wild animals, such as Blue-bellied Rollers (Moynihan 1990).

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Dolphins (Pilleri, G. [1983] “Cetaceans in Captivity,” Investigations on Cetacea 15:221-49); Barn Owl (Jones 1981); Rhesus Macaque (Strobel. I). [1979] “Behavior and Malnutrition in Primates,” in D.A. Levitsky, ed., Malnutrition, Environment, and Behavior: New Perspectives, pp. 193-218 [Ithaca: Cornell University Press]). Many reports of animal homosexuality and transgender have appeared in medical journals and other publications dealing with pathology. See, for example, the descriptions of same-sex activity among Common Chimpanzees in Kollar et al. 1968 (characterized as “perverse sexual acts”), which appeared in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

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