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Zoology
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 Biological
Exuberance : Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by
Bruce Bagemihl
Bruce Bagemihl writes that Biological
Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity was a
"labor of love." And indeed it must have been, since
most scientists have thus far studiously avoided the topic of
widespread homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom--sometimes in
the face of undeniable evidence. Bagemihl begins with an overview
of same-sex activity in animals, carefully defining courtship
patterns, affectionate behaviors, sexual techniques, mating and
pair-bonding, and same-sex parenting. He firmly dispels the
prevailing notion that homosexuality is uniquely human and only
occurs in "unnatural" circumstances. As far as the
nature-versus-nurture argument--it's obviously both, he concludes.
An overview of biologists' discomfort with their own observations
of animal homosexuality over 200 years would be truly hilarious if
it didn't reflect a tendency of humans (and only humans) to
respond with aggression and hostility to same-sex behavior in our
own species. In fact, Bagemihl reports, scientists have sometimes
been afraid to report their observations for fear of recrimination
from a hidebound (and homophobic) academia. Scientists' use of
anthropomorphizing vocabulary such as insulting, unfortunate,
and inappropriate to describe same-sex matings shows a
decided lack of objectivity on the part of naturalists.
Astounding as it sounds, a number of scientists
have actually argued that when a female Bonobo wraps her legs
around another female ... while emitting screams of enjoyment,
this is actually "greeting" behavior, or
"appeasement" behavior ... almost anything, it seems,
besides pleasurable sexual behavior.
Throw this book into the middle of a crowd of
wildlife biologists and watch them scatter. But Bagemihl doesn't
let the scientific community's discomfort deny him the opportunity
to show "the love that dare not bark its name" in all
its feathery, furry, toothy diversity. The second half of this
hefty tome is filled with an exhaustive array of species that
exhibit homosexuality, complete with photos and detailed
scientific illustrations of the behaviors described. Biological
Exuberance is a well-researched, thoroughly scientific, and
erudite look at a purposefully neglected frontier of zoology. --Therese
Littleton
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Bruce Bagemihl
Excerpt:
In 1986, Canadian zoologist Marc Cattet made an
extraordinary discovery: the presence of significant numbers of
wild hermaphrodite grizzly, black, and polar bears. These "masculinized
females" have the internal reproductive anatomy of a female
combined with portions of the external genitals of a male,
including a "penis-like" organ. As many as 10 to 20
percent of the bears in some populations may spontaneously exhibit
this phenomenon. Such individuals are able to reproduce, and most
adult hermaphrodite bears are actually females that successfully
raise cubs. In fact, the reproductive canal in some extends
through the "phallus" rather than forming a vagina, so
that the female actually mates and gives birth through the tip of
her "clitoris/penis." Even more remarkably, these
animals seem to offer striking confirmation of a number of
traditional indigenous beliefs--most notably the mythic
gender-mixing "Bear Mother" that occurs in some Native
American cultures....
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Excerpt:
In a new hypothesis for a behavior observed in a
number of species, two researchers say the process of natural
selection may explain homosexual behavior in a beetle that preys
on citrus in South Florida.
An article about the research co-authored by an
Israeli researcher and a University of Florida professor is
scheduled to appear in the Oct. 21 edition of the journal Nature.
Ally R. Harari, a researcher at the Volcani
Center at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, and Jane Brockmann,
professor and chair of UF's department of zoology, studied the
behavior of Diaprepes abbreviatus, an inch-long black beetle
commonly known as the sugar cane rootstalk borer weevil. The
research began in 1996 at UF when Harari was a post-doctoral
researcher in UF's department of entomology.
Both male and female beetles mount each other,
Brockmann said. When she and Harari studied the females' behavior
in laboratory experiments, they discovered the sight of a pair of
mounted females attracts large males, who are equally likely to
mate with either of the two females. Small males, by contrast,
stay away, apparently dissuaded by the size of the top female.
"We are hypothesizing that by mounting each
other, the females are able to attract more attention from larger
males than if they were seeking males alone," Brockmann said,
adding that bottom females are capable of pushing top ones off but
do not do so.
Homosexual behavior is observed in a number of
insects and other animal species, Brockmann said. The standard
explanation for the behavior in domesticated animals such as cows
is that mounting is a display of dominance, she said. The beetle's
behavior, by contrast, appears to suggest a different explanation...
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By Tina Adler, Science News, January 4,
1997
Excerpt:
Courtship in the barnyard usually puts a smile
on farmers' faces and dollar signs in their eyes. That good cheer
quickly sours, however, when the the two lovebirds happen to be of
the same sex. The problem isn't a moral one, of course. Strictly
financial. Many domestic and wild animals engage in sexual
activity with members of both the same and the opposite sex; a
smaller number have eyes only for their own sex. Some of these
homosexual activities appear to boost reproduction. Female cows
often mount each other, thereby signaling any bulls in sight that
they are ready to reproduce. In other cases, same-sex affairs may
help reproduction indirectly, by promoting the general fitness of
a group or individual. For example, in some species, animals are
more willing to share food with a member of their own sex after
sexual activity with him or her. Indeed, researchers interested in
animal behavior and sexual selection have long held that the main
function of homosexual endeavors is to ensure, in a roundabout
way, that one's genes get passed along...
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