Tried to find the right thread to tack this article onto. FWIW. From The New York Times.-lopaka
Love That Dare Not Squeak Its Name
February 7, 2004
By DINITIA SMITH
Roy and Silo, two chinstrap penguins at the Central Park
Zoo in Manhattan, are completely devoted to each other. For
nearly six years now, they have been inseparable. They
exhibit what in penguin parlance is called "ecstatic
behavior": that is, they entwine their necks, they vocalize
to each other, they have sex. Silo and Roy are, to
anthropomorphize a bit, gay penguins. When offered female
companionship, they have adamantly refused it. And the
females aren't interested in them, either.
At one time, the two seemed so desperate to incubate an egg
together that they put a rock in their nest and sat on it,
keeping it warm in the folds of their abdomens, said their
chief keeper, Rob Gramzay. Finally, he gave them a fertile
>>egg that needed care to hatch. Things went perfectly. Roy
and Silo sat on it for the typical 34 days until a chick,
Tango, was born. For the next two and a half months they
raised Tango, keeping her warm and feeding her food from
their beaks until she could go out into the world on her
own. Mr. Gramzay is full of praise for them.
"They did a great job," he said. He was standing inside the
glassed-in penguin exhibit, where Roy and Silo had just
finished lunch. Penguins usually like a swim after they
eat, and Silo was in the water. Roy had finished his dip
and was up on the beach.
Roy and Silo are hardly unusual. Milou and Squawk, two
young males, are also beginning to exhibit courtship
behavior, hanging out with each other, billing and bowing.
Before them, the Central Park Zoo had Georgey and Mickey,
two female Gentoo penguins who tried to incubate eggs
together. And Wendell and Cass, a devoted male African
penguin pair, live at the New York Aquarium in Coney
Island. Indeed, scientists have found homosexual behavior
throughout the animal world.
This growing body of science has been increasingly drawn
into charged debates about homosexuality in American
society, on subjects from gay marriage to sodomy laws,
despite reluctance from experts in the field to extrapolate
from animals to humans. Gay groups argue that if homosexual
behavior occurs in animals, it is natural, and therefore
the rights of homosexuals should be protected. On the other
hand, some conservative religious groups have condemned the
same practices in the past, calling them "animalistic."
But if homosexuality occurs among animals, does that
necessarily mean that it is natural for humans, too? And
that raises a familiar question: if homosexuality is not a
choice, but a result of natural forces that cannot be
controlled, can it be immoral?
The open discussion of homosexual behavior in animals is
relatively new. "There has been a certain cultural shyness
about admitting it," said Frans de Waal, whose 1997 book,
"Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape" (University of California
Press), unleashed a torrent of discussion about animal
sexuality. Bonobos, apes closely related to humans, are
wildly energetic sexually. Studies show that whether
observed in the wild or in captivity, nearly all are
bisexual, and nearly half their sexual interactions are
with the same sex. Female bonobos have been observed to
engage in homosexual activity almost hourly.
Before his own book, "American scientists who investigated
bonobos never discussed sex at all," said Mr. de Waal,
director of the Living Links Center of the Yerkes Primate
Center at Emory University in Atlanta. "Or they sometimes
would show two females having sex together, and would say,
`The females are very affectionate.' "
Then in 1999, Bruce Bagemihl published "Biological
Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity"
(St. Martin's Press), one of the first books of its kind to
provide an overview of scholarly studies of same-sex
behavior in animals. Mr. Bagemihl said homosexual behavior
had been documented in some 450 species. (Homosexuality, he
says, refers to any of these behaviors between members of
the same sex: long-term bonding, sexual contact, courtship
displays or the rearing of young.) Last summer the book was
cited by the American Psychiatric Association and other
groups in a "friend of the court" brief submitted to the
Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas, a case challenging a
Texas anti-sodomy law. The court struck down the law.
"Sexual Exuberance" was also cited in 2000 by gay rights
groups opposed to Ballot Measure 9, a proposed Oregon
statute prohibiting teaching about homosexuality or
bisexuality in public schools. The measure lost.
In his book Mr. Bagemihl describes homosexual activity in a
broad spectrum of animals. He asserts that while same-sex
behavior is sometimes found in captivity, it is actually
seen more frequently in studies of animals in the wild.
Among birds, for instance, studies show that 10 to 15
percent of female western gulls in some populations in the
wild are homosexual. Females perform courtship rituals,
like tossing their heads at each other or offering small
gifts of food to each other, and they establish nests
together. Occasionally they mate with males and produce
fertile eggs but then return to their original same-sex
partners. Their bonds, too, may persist for years.
Among mammals, male and female bottlenose dolphins
frequently engage in homosexual activity, both in captivity
and in the wild. Homosexuality is particularly common among
young male dolphin calves. One male may protect another
that is resting or healing from wounds inflicted by a
predator. When one partner dies, the other may search for a
new male mate. Researchers have noted that in some cases
same-sex behavior is more common for dolphins in captivity.
Male and female rhesus macaques, a type of monkey, also
exhibit homosexuality in captivity and in the wild. Males
are affectionate to each other, touching, holding and
embracing. Females smack their lips at each other and play
games like hide-and-seek, peek-a-boo and follow the leader.
And both sexes mount members of their own sex.
Paul L. Vasey, a professor of psychology and neuroscience
at the University of Lethbridge in Canada, who studies
homosexual behavior in Japanese macaques, is editing a new
book on homosexual behavior in animals, to be published by
Cambridge University Press. This kind of behavior among
animals has been observed by scientists as far back as the
1700's, but Mr. Vasey said one reason there had been few
books on the topic was that "people don't want to do the
research because they don't want to have suspicions raised
about their sexuality."
Some scientists say homosexual behavior in animals is not
necessarily about sex. Marlene Zuk, a professor of biology
at the University of California at Riverside and author of
"Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can't Learn About Sex
From Animals" (University of California Press, 2002), notes
that scientists have speculated that homosexuality may have
an evolutionary purpose, ensuring the survival of the
species. By not producing their own offspring, homosexuals
may help support or nurture their relatives' young. "That
is a contribution to the gene pool," she said.
For Janet Mann, a professor of biology and psychology at
Georgetown University, who has studied same-sex behavior in
dolphin calves, their homosexuality "is about bond
formation," she said, "not about being sexual for life."
She said that studies showed that adult male dolphins
formed long-term alliances, sometimes in large groups. As adults, they cooperate to entice a single female and keep
other males from her. Sometimes they share the female, or
they may cooperate to help one male. "Male-male cooperation
is extremely important," Ms. Mann said. The homosexual
behavior of the young calves "could be practicing" for that
later, crucial adult period, she added.
But, scientists say, just because homosexuality is observed
in animals doesn't mean that it is only genetically based.
"Homosexuality is extraordinarily complex and variable,"
Mr. Bagemihl said. "We look at animals as pure biology and
pure genetics, and they are not." He noted that "the
occurrence of same-sex behavior in animals provides support
for the nurture side as well." He cited as an example the
ruff, a type of Arctic sandpiper. There are four different
classes of male ruffs, each differing from the others
genetically. The two that differ most from each other are
most similar in their homosexual behaviors.
Ms. Zuk said, "You have inclinations that are more or less
supported by our genes and in some environmental
circumstances get expressed." She used the analogy of
right- or left-handedness, thought to be genetically based.
"But you can teach naturally left-handed children to use
their right hand," she pointed out.
Still, scientists warn about drawing conclusions about
humans. "For some people, what animals do is a yardstick of
what is and isn't natural," Mr. Vasey said. "They make a
leap from saying if it's natural, it's morally and
ethically desirable."
But he added: "Infanticide is widespread in the animal
kingdom. To jump from that to say it is desirable makes no
sense. We shouldn't be using animals to craft moral and
social policies for the kinds of human societies we want to
live in. Animals don't take care of the elderly. I don't
particularly think that should be a platform for closing
down nursing homes."
Mr. Bagemihl is also wary of extrapolating. "In Nazi
Germany, one very common interpretation of homosexuality
was that it was animalistic behavior, subhuman," he said.
What the animal studies do show, Ms. Zuk observed, is that
"sexuality is a lot broader term than people want to
think."
"You have this idea that the animal kingdom is strict,
old-fashioned Roman Catholic," she said, "that they have
sex just to procreate."
In bonobos, she noted, "you see expressions of sex outside
the period when females are fertile. Suddenly you are
beginning to see that sex is not necessarily about
reproduction."
"Sexual expression means more than making babies," Ms. Zuk
said. "Why are we surprised? People are animals."
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