The Big Gay Animal Tour (IR)

Name of Project Members: Isabella Rotman

Unifying Biological Concept /Theme: Homosexual Behavior in Animals “The Big Gay Animal Tour”

Homosexual behavior has been observed in over 1,500 species of animals. In actuality, it probably exists in many more species that have not be observed and recorded! In the past I have drawn fact sheets that show certain animals and contain a small tidbit about what homosexual behavior. In this project I intend to bring this concept further by discussing some possible explanations for homosexual behavior in animals. Homosexuality is a difficult topic to justify evolutionarily, for the obvious reason that an animal must engage in heterosexual mating in order to pass it’s genes on. However, homosexual behavior must have some benefit to survival and reproduction if it is so widespread across so many species! In my comic, I plan to look at certain species of animals that engage in such behavior and discuss hypotheses for how this may be beneficial to survival.

I find that there are two extreme ways this topic is treated by human beings. People will either label examples of homosexuality in nature as issues of dominance, greeting, or completion, in order to remove them from the realm of homosexuality, or they do the opposite and use them to justify human issues. Petter Boeckman, exhibition advisor of The Natural History Museum of the University of Oslo's "Against Nature?" Exhibition, said: “One fundamental premise in social debates has been that homosexuality is unnatural. This premise is wrong. Homosexuality is both common and highly essential in the lives of a number of species.” That it is common is clear, how it is essential is what I find most interesting.

Rationale for this Concept /Theme: I have two interests in this theme. The first being how to explain something in terms of natural selection that seems so counter-intuitive to natural selection. It is a puzzle I am interested in taking a closer loo at. The second is that I simply enjoy talking about queer behavior in animals! Its fun, and it is something that people seem to enjoy reading!

Media format of the project: I plan on making a zine/comic book. It would be much like my previous comic books on animal mating behavior and sexual selection. I would like to do my best to make this comic accessible to people outside of the Field Museum. I plan to format it in a way where it could be used as a tour in the field museum, but could also be read by someone who had never been to a natural history museum, and still make sense and be educational! I plan to make it cute and funny, so people will enjoy reading it!

Possible, specific items or components to include in your wunderkammer (so far)

• Bonobos: Bonobo’s are almost entirely bisexual. Bonobos use sex to solve almost any conflict, and have no taboos about age, gender, or number of partners.
• The Layson Albatross: Layson Albatross’s mate for life. About 30$ of albatross pairs raising chicks are female/female. These females will mate with a male, and then raise the chick together.
• Australian Black Swans: “In the Australian black swans, homosexual pairs represent about 25 % of all couples, and the homosexual couples can last for years. At times, these males employ a female for mating to get a clutch of eggs, but the future fathers chase the female after it has laid the last egg. Sometimes, these homosexual couples steal the eggs of heterosexual couples, driving them away from their nests. “
• Penguins: Paired males in zoos have been known to steal eggs and raise the chicks, or pretend that stones are eggs in an attempt to hatch them.
• Dolphins: Young male dolphins form homosexual relationships. They will travel together and are often exclusive, and in other times bisexual, working together to find (or capture) females.
• Amazon River Dolphins: Have been observed penetrating each other’s blowholes.
• Giraffes: “Homosexual courtship between two males is actually quite common in giraffes. Necking can be observed first, with both male giraffes rubbing their necks together. This will obviously lead to both mounting and climax. Homosexual relationships occur with about 50% of all male giraffes, while only 1% of female giraffes engage in same sex relations.”
• Japanese Macaques: “Macaque society revolves around females, who form intricate dominance hierarchies within a given group. Males are transient. To help maintain the necessary social networks, female macaques engage in rampant lesbianism. These friendly copulations, which can last up to four days, form the bedrock of macaque society, preventing unnecessary violence and aggression. Females that sleep together will even defend each other from the unwanted advances of male macaques.”
• Elephants: Homosexual elephants, which are well-documented, mate year-round, but an elephant cow (female) is fertile for only a few days each year.
• Big Horn Sheep: “Male big horn sheep live in what are often called “homosexual societies.” They bond through genital licking and anal intercourse, which often ends in ejaculation. If a male sheep chooses to not have gay sex, it becomes a social outcast.”

TOPICS:

•      Animals engage in sex for pleasure

•      Animals engage in homosexuality and bisexuality sex to form bonds.

o   Roughgarden’s “Evolutions Rainbow”: According to Roughgarden, gayness is a necessary side effect of getting along. Homosexuality evolved in tandem with vertebrate societies, in which a motley group of individuals has to either live together or die alone. In fact, Roughgarden even argues that homosexuality is a defining feature of advanced animal communities, which require communal bonds in order to function. “The more complex and sophisticated a social system is,” she writes, “the more likely it is to have homosexuality intermixed with heterosexuality.”

o   BONOBOS, JAPANESE MAQAQUES, DOLPHINS, BIGHORN SHEEP

•      Animals engage in homosexual pairings to raise offspring.

o   LAYSON ALBATROSS, PENGUINS, AUSTRALIAN BLACK SWANS

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/evolution/gay-moth1.htm

http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_gay_animal_kingdom/