Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

Similar assumptions have frequently guided the treatment of actual sexual behavior, most blatantly when same-sex activity is excluded entirely from the definition of what constitutes sexual activity. One researcher, for example, only considered cases involving “insertion of the penis into the vagina” to be genuine examples of sexual penetration in Savanna (Olive) Baboons, and a study of Right Whales classified behavior as sexual only if it occurred in groups containing both males and females. A recent study of Moose defined sexual mounting behavior solely as “a male mounting a female,” while any mounting activity in Cattle Egrets “in which male-female cloacal [genital] contact appeared to be impossible” was classified a priori as “incomplete” or unsuccessful sexual activity.³⁴ Anal and oral intercourse are not the only forms of penetration excluded by these sorts of definitions. In discussing homosexual activity in female Squirrel Monkeys, one scientist bluntly asserted that clitoral penetration—the insertion of one female’s clitoris into another’s vagina—was anatomically impossible: “Because of the structure of the female genitalia, however, intromission between females is not possible.” In fact, the clitoris in Squirrel Monkeys and many other female mammals becomes conspicuously erect during sexual arousal, and actual clitoral penetration has been documented during lesbian sexual activity in Bonobos, and it may also occur in Spotted Hyenas.³⁵ The phallocentric viewpoint expressed in comments such as these is merely the most recent manifestation of attitudes that can be traced back to some of the earliest descriptions of animal homosexuality. In 1922, for example, one scientist wrote of female homosexual interactions in Savanna (Chacma) Baboons, “The physical completion of the act was, of course, impossible and it seemed more like an impulsive action in which there was no real sexual excitement involved.”³⁶ This perfectly epitomizes the sort of stereotypes and misinformation that have continued to engulf homosexuality to this day, in both animals and people.

Mock Courtships and Sham Matings

The attitude that homosexual activity is not “genuine” sexual, courtship, or pair-bonding behavior is also sometimes made explicit in the descriptions and terminology used by researchers. In spite of witnessing two male homosexual mounts during a morning spent observing Ruffs, for example, one ornithologist reported offhandedly that “there were no real copulations” because no heterosexual mounting took place; a similar comment was made by a scientist studying Bonnet Macaques.³⁷ This attitude is also encoded directly in the words used for homosexual behaviors: rarely do animals of the same sex ever simply “copulate” or “court” or “mate” with one another (as do animals of the opposite sex). Instead, male Walruses indulge in “mock courtship” with each other, male African Elephants and Gorillas have “sham matings,” while female Sage Grouse and male Hanuman Langurs and Common Chimpanzees engage in “pseudo-matings.” Musk-oxen participate in “mock copulations,” Mallard Ducks of the same sex form “pseudo-pairs” with each other, and Blue-bellied Rollers have “fake” sexual activity. Male Lions engage in “feigned coitus” with one another, male Orang-utans and Savanna Baboons take part in “pseudo-sexual” mountings and other behaviors, while Mule Deer and Hammerheads exhibit “false mounting.” Bonobos, Japanese and Rhesus Macaques, Red Foxes, and Squirrels all perform “pseudo-copulations” with animals of the same sex.³⁸ Amid this abundance of counterfeit sexual activity, one thing is all too real: the level of denial on the part of some zoologists in dealing with this subject.³⁹