Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Such mounts are often described as “incomplete” or are viewed as nothing more than a component or prelude to “full” copulations. This implies that the “goal” of all sexual mounting is penetration, ejaculation, and ultimately, fertilization—certainly true for a great deal of mounting behavior, but by no means a uniform characterization of all sexual activity. For further discussion of what one biologist has aptly termed “fertilization myopia”—i.e., the narrowness and bias of most scientific descriptions of animal copulation, which focus only on “successful” matings (those that lead to fertilization)—see Eberhard, Female Control, pp. 28—34. For an example of “display” copulations in a bird species not profiled in part 2, as well as examples from other species, see Eberhard, Female Control, pp. 94-102; Strahl, S. D., and A. Schmitz (1990) “Hoatzins: Cooperative Breeding in a Folivorous Neotropical Bird,” p. 145, in P. B. Stacey and W. D. Koenig, eds., Cooperative Breeding in Birds: Long-term Studies of Ecology and Behavior, pp. 131—56 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

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For a survey of mammal species where reverse mounting occurs, see Dagg (1984). Reverse mounting usually involves the female climbing on top of the male (and rarely includes penetration [in mammals] or cloacal contact [in birds]). Because heterosexual mating in Dolphins typically occurs with the male in an upside-down position underneath the female, however, “reverse” mounting in these species involves the female assuming a position underneath the male.

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In addition to the references for species profiled in part 2, descriptions and discussion of masturbation in a wide variety of other animals can be found in the following articles: Shadle, A. R. (1946) “Copulation in the Porcupine,” Journal of Wildlife Management 10:159—62; Ficken, M. S., and W. C. Dilger (1960) “Comments on Redirection with Examples of Avian Copulations with Substitute Objects,” Animal Behavior 8:219-22; Snow, B. K. (1977) “Comparison of the Leks of Guy’s Hermit Hummingbird Phaethornis guy in Costa Rica and Trinidad,” Ibis 119:211-14; Buechner, H. K., and S. F. Mackler (1978) “Breeding Behavior in Captive Indian Rhinoceros,” Zoologische Garten 48:305-22; Harger, M., and D. Lyon (1980) “Further Observations of Lek Behavior of the Green Hermit Hummingbird Phaethornis guy at Monteverde, Costa Rica,” Ibis 122:525—30; Wallis, S. J. (1983) “Sexual Behavior and Reproduction of Cercocebus albigena johnstonii in Kibale Forest, Western Uganda,” International Journal of Primatology 4:153—66; Poglayen-Neuwall, I., and I. Poglayen-Neuwall (1985) “Observations of Masturbation in Two Carnivora,” Zoologische Garten 1985 55:347—348; Frith, C. B., and D. W. Frith (1993) “Courtship Display of the Tooth-billed Bowerbird Scenopoeetes dentirostris and Its Behavioral and Systematic Significance,” Emu 93:129-36; Post, W. (1994) “Redirected Copulation by Male Boat-tailed Grackles,” Wilson Bulletin 106:770-71; Frith, C. B., and D. W. Frith (1997) “Courtship and Mating of the King of Saxony Bird of Paradise Pteridophora alberti in New Guinea with Comment on their Taxonomic Significance,” Emu 97:185—93.

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As a rough measure of the overwhelming attention devoted to male as opposed to female genitalia, for example, the Zoological Record for 1978—97 lists 539 articles that deal with the penis, compared to only 7 for the clitoris (the Zoological Record is a comprehensive electronic database that indexes more than a million zoological source documents, including articles from over 6,000 journals worldwide; the following keywords/search terms were used in compiling this estimate: penis/penile/penial/penes, phallus/phallic, baculum, hemipenes, clitorislclitorallclitorides, (os) clitoridis).

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