Group 22 | Blogging about animal behaviour (2010)

Animals are homosexual? You must be kidding!!!

This is probably the reaction that most people will give when they hear this statement. Homosexuality itself is a topic that can be rather taboo. Even considering homosexuality in animals, would thus probably stir much controversy.

The strong Darwinist concept of animals teaches that animals only have sex to procreate. However, interestingly homosexuality that has no reproductive purpose is actually quite common in the animal kingdom.

Homosexual behaviour consists of 5 different categories:

Courtship
Affection
Sexual behaviour
Pair-bonding
Parenting

Different combinations of these behaviours can be observed in different species. Some animals form long term homosexual pair-bonds that sometimes extend throughout their lives. This is seen in dolphins where male dolphin pairs travel together in search of female dolphins for procreation. The male-female bond is however only temporary.

Females also have their fair share of homosexual behaviour. This is best seen in parenting, for instance, among birds such as geese and ducks. Single females will lay eggs in a homosexual pair’s nest and the parenting is left to the homosexual couples. Homosexual couples also tend to be better at raising the young than heterosexual couples.

Male giraffes can be particularly affectionate towards one another when they rub and entangle their necks. Lions similarly nuzzle, caress, mount and even engage in sex to strengthen their bonds. Perhaps one of the most promiscuous species would be Bonobo monkeys. They creatively come up with different ways to derive sexual pleasure for themselves and others. This includes masturbation, oral sex and use of sex toys. Sexual play among one another is also effective in resolving conflicts for these species.

When it comes to sex, animals in the wild are truly wild…

Do check out the video: Homosexuality in animals

References

1. National Geographic News, “Homosexual Activity Among Animals Stirs Debate”. 23 July 2004 <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0722_040722_gayanimal.html>(( ( Accessed on: 4th April 2010)

2. Sexplorations, “Homosexuality in Animals”, 22 March 2008

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUwza5Grxos>

(Accessed on: 1^st April 2010)

3. Telegraph, “Homosexual behaviour widespreaf in animals according to new study”. 16 June 2009

< http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/5550488/Homosexual-behaviour-widespread-in-animals-according-to-new-study.html>

(Accessed on: 5^th April 2010)

4. The Medical News, “1,500 animal species practice homosexuality”. 23 October 2006

<http://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/10/23/20718.aspx>.

(Accessed on: 2^nd April 2010)

Photo credits

1. Elodie, Ä memorable experience for young & old: The Zoo of Barcelona”, 1 April 2009

< http://www.perfecttravelblog.com/leisure/>

( Accessed on: 6^th April 2010)

2. Ho, Raymond, “Homosexuality: Was Darwin Wrong On Sexual Selection?”, 3 November 2009

<http://theprancingpapio.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html >.

(Accessed on: 6th April 2010)

Video credit

National Geographic, “Homosexuality in Animals”, 6 October 2006

< http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RlTAyNI8WE>

(Accessed on 6^th April 2010)

Giraffes (Giraffidae Giraffa camelopardalis) are known to be the tallest animal in the world, with distinct long necks and long grasping tongues that can extend up to 18 inches to munch on the inner leaves of trees. However, did you know that early age giraffes were more deer life with shorter necks? Then how did the Giraffe species end up with long necks?

It is a common belief that giraffes had adapted longer necks as part of a survival technique to reach out to the greater heights for food. However scientific research in the 1990s show that when food was scarce giraffes preferred feeding in lower bushes than in tall trees.Thus dispproving the common belief.

There are other speculations that the giraffes have long necks in order to help them identify predators from afar. However, biologists are not convinced by this being the solitary theory behind the evolution of giraffes citing that if seeing far distances was such a huge advantage then other animals would have followed the giraffe’s evolution.

There was a more concrete evidence and reasoning behind this evolution: Necking.

” Giraffes fight over females by swinging their necks and heads like a medieval ball and chain. The longer and heavier the neck, the more momentum behind the often bone-shattering head slams.”

Simmons and Scheepers found that the longer and more massive a giraffe male’s neck was, the more likely he was to win the mating contest and thus, giving him more chance of mating and this led to the “longer” neck genes being passed down more frequently to the future generations. This mating competition is believed to have further motivated the evolution of the giraffe’s neck as the longer-necked animals were more successful at reproducing.

To conclude, here’s a video of this necking action caught on tape:

References:

“Why do Giraffes have such long necks?” By Kathy Wollard. Url:http://www.how-come.net/giraffeneck.html (Accessed on 3rd April 2010)

“Why do Giraffes have such long necks?” By Vlad Tarko. Sci-Tech News, 30 May 2006. Url:http://news.softpedia.com/news/Why-Do-Giraffes-Have-Such-Long-Necks-41441.shtml (Accessed on 3rd April 2010)

“Winning by a Neck: Sexual Selection in the Evolution of Giraffe” by Robert E. Simmons and Lue Scheeper, The American Naturalist, Vol. 148, No. 5 (Nov., 1996), pp. 771-786 (Accessed on 6th April 2010)

” Nature| Tall Blondes | “Giraffe ‘Necking’ ” by PBS. Url: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXcGvQqWB-0 (Accessed on 7th April 2010)

“Masai Giraffe in Necking Dominance Fight” by WildImages, 17th April 2008. Url: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wild_images/2420442547/ (Accessed on 7th April 2010)