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by V S on April 3rd, 2005

V S

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Does homosexuality exist in the animal kingdom?

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  • by Erin Albrecht on April 4th, 2005

    Erin Albrecht

    Homosexuality is common across different taxa of animals.

    Some examples include

    * Bonobo apes, which routinely engage in both heterosexual and homosexual behavior;
    * rhesus macaques, which engage in sex play and the occasional mounting of members of the same sex;
    * chinstrap penguins, particularly a pair of males from New York's Central Park Zoo who have even raised a chick together;
    * certain populations of female western gulls, in which up to 15% engage in homosexual behavior;
    * bighorn rams, where at least 8% engage in homosexual behavior;
    * even ostriches, where some males in a population will run at each other in a bizarre version of the normal courtship dance.

    Others may include bottlenose dolphins, black swans, flamingos, foxes, white-tailed deer, orcas, and lions.

    There is a book that chronicles all sorts of unusual mating practices in the animal kingdom (Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, by Bruce Bagemihl), which would be an interesting read if anything.


    Sources:
    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/02/07/MNG3N4RAV41.DTL
    http://www.answers.com/topic/homosexuality-in-animals
    http://www.salon.com/it/feature/1999/03/cov_15featurea.html

    Comments

    • No, that is just a comparison the gay community tries to say so they don't feel alone. Animals play with each other. They fight, they don't have sex with the same sex because they are attracted to it or some crap like that. It's just the weird human animal kingdom

      sarfux

      by sarfux on January 26th, 2008

    • You mean they do it *accidentally*?

      Prunesquallor

      by Prunesquallor on November 23rd, 2009

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