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Dr James Manos (MD)
June 2008

HOMOSEXUALITY IN ANIMAL KINGDOM, SEA SPECIES, BIRDS, INSECTS AND IN HUMAN

 

Motivation for writing this text was 4 events:

a) The summer barbeque on a visit that I went with some acquaintances. We got there with our dog named Quade. There were other dogs at the barbeque. A British lady had a dog called Coder. Her dog did sexual humping movements (but not penetrating) to our dog, although the two dogs were males!

b) A few years ago I fed stray cats. I noticed that when two males came across at the balcony (it was at the ground), they became distressed and did strange movements by bending their waist. Then they became too aggressive with each other and if any of the cats didn’t retreat, then there was a cat fight. This led to my assumption that between cats there was a fear of male sex, since the aggressive behaviour when they came across couldn’t be justified such the aggressiveness they show e.g. when they claim a female and fight for it; as in this case there wasn’t any female cat at the scene.

c) My father, who had all his life cats, told me (when I asked him about homosexuality in animals) that had noticed in the past homosexual acts between male cats, usually between an adult male cat with a kitten (male too). In this case it is a kind of sexual abuse on young animals which, as we shall see below, is typical of the bonobos monkeys. Many believe that the adult male animal is training in sex the minor one. However this notion is totally unproven.

d) Big cats, relatives of the domestic cats, such as lions often show too homosexual behaviours. Many years ago I was shocked by a picture (I think at the magazine Focus) with 2 male lions that had sex.

Many people say that homosexuality is human and not seen in nature. In fact the opposite is true and it is scientifically documented and proved. Sex plays a huge importance to animals, fish, birds and insects. Usually, scientists do not find any specific cause for homosexual practices among animals; however the absence of a teleological criterion (a purpose) does not preclude such practices.

Homosexuality in human Kind is obvious. Homosexuality was prevalent in ancient societies (e.g., Greeks, Romans, Celts etc.), but later religions (especially Christianity by the Apostle Paul and Islam where in some fanatic Islamic countries the gays were buried alive) banned homosexuality. Moreover, in ancient societies paedophilia was also something usual that often occur as incest or as a teaching of sexual practices (e.g. in ancient Athens, as we can see at the ‘Symposium’ of Plato).

So paedophilia in ancient Athens was a form of initiation to sex and had not an authoritative and domination character. In our time (after the sexual liberation movement of the last 3 decades), homosexual and bisexual habits are finally considered socially permissible, although many societies (like all Muslim countries) are still extremely homophobic.

Today paedophilia hasn’t got the incest or sexual investigation (a teaching of sex from an adult male) character that had in many ancient societies, but it has a character of domination, rape and humiliation. Unfortunately paedophilia is still increasing in our time, however there is a question that we steak still about paedophilia in case of a sexual act with a teenager 17 or 18 years old, regardless if that can be done with the consent of adolescent (however for legal reasons we consider a person competent for consent if it has reached the age of 18). Many western countries (the U.S.) have reached the other end and any sexual contact with minors (even 17 years) is considered rape, even if done by a person at the same age, or by person of the opposite sex (minor or adult).

But what occurs with the animals? Biologists have published numerous reports of homosexual practices between animals, fish, birds and insects. It was observed that male bulls had sex, although there were other females amongst them. An easy answer is that gay sex is for practicing sex (because masturbation occurs only in apes) or to impress the opposite sex. This notion can’t be proved. Gay sex has been observed in male rams and also elephants!

In a group of apes in Central Africa, the bonobos, it was observed that they have sex with the same gender, regardless of age. These monkeys are bisexual (have sex with both sex animals) and have sex with all possible combinations (male up, other male down and viva versa). The incredible is that they make sex with very young males (that we can consider as paedophilia) and even face to face posture, something that we thought only humans did. However, according to Darwin’s theory, apes are our closest relative. So their sexual practices can be connected with similar human behaviours.

The more amazing is that when an adult male had sex with a younger, often they changed position and roles and the younger as had sex as active (energetic), with the adult male as recessive! Generally, the animals engage in homosexual behaviour have no limits.

In the savannah, baboon males are in an intense competition for the females. But every one hour males meet and engage in homosexual ritual greetings. Some male baboons form a stable alliance relationships and their homosexual relationship can last even six years! When they see an enemy, the male baboons that have a relationship of alliance, fight together against the common enemy.

At the Japanese monkey it was observed 20 years ago that the female played with stones they collected. However, the scientists couldn’t find some benefit from this practice. Later, other female monkeys imitated that behaviour. This incident shows that there is not necessarily always a purpose (teleological criterion) on behaviour of an animal. Perhaps this is opposed to the behaviourists theory (which is very old) in psychology. For example, sexual pleasure that animals and other kinds in nature seek, even with homosexual ways, has not necessarily a specific cause, not even perpetuation (this is excluded with homosexuality).

Returning to the Japanese monkeys, it is observed that females Japanese monkeys formed solid relationships and lived in pairs. This behaviour was irrelevant to reproduction. There was no shortage of male Japanese monkeys in order to justify a homosexual relationship between females. However, females ignored male! The couple of female Japanese monkeys alternated sexual partners and took care of one another.

One notion is that gay sex has an authoritarian and dominant way for a kind to impose to another one of the same sex. However, this domination relationship wasn’t found in female Japanese monkeys, neither in monkeys bonobos of central Africa that alternated sexual postures (and the one that was receptive altered a posture and became active).
Interestingly, neither wasn’t any alliance between gay females with dominant males, like the one that occurs with baboons, nor was a common care for babies from the females, as observed in the lioness.

Other kind of monkeys that lived in cool environment had homosexual behaviour too. Generally, in different kind of monkeys it was observed a various homosexual behaviour (that was more prominent in specific kinds such as the male monkeys Bonobos and the female Japanese monkeys).

In lions, homosexuality occurred in males, there had homosexual relationships with females too (so they were bisexual), but couldn’t keep their sexual relationship with the females for long. That had an impact on raising their cubs. So, brothers or sisters helped the lioness upbringing their cubs. Often it was noticed that a lioness had a relationship with another lioness, but they rarely engaged in homosexual relations. But some biologists insist that the animals of the same sex that help to raise a baby (a cub) should be considered as gays, even if they don’t have sex. In this occasion, the humans’ picture of a male and a female growing up together their babies is an exception in nature.

Dolphins, are not only very playful, but also are over sexual mammals. Two male dolphins can live together from an early age under a close relationship. When one of the gay dolphins sleeps, the other protects it and it is on the lookout for predators. Also, they treat one another and travel together to find females. Often they share the same female! The relationship between male and female dolphins is temporary, unlike the relationship between two males which is more solid. Often a couple meets another male dolphin and form a sexual relationship between 3 males!

If one of the partner dolphins died, the widowed partner often searched for another male and found a partner who formerly had a sexual relationship with other 2 males. The incredible is that a widowed dolphin (that lost its male partner) did not spoil the relationship of two other male dolphins!

In the Bahamas, bottlenose dolphins share the warm waters of the spotted dolphins. Both male and female dolphins have a slit at their genital area and biologists have noticed that same-sex partners can irritate the genital slit of their partner with their snout, causing sexual pleasure. Homosexual behaviour plays an important role in dolphins’ society. The male bottlenose dolphins compromise to the homosexual behaviour of a group of spotted dolphins, although belonging to different species. Sometimes the relationships of two species are aggressive, while others are friendly and can make alliance against the Sharks!

Homosexual behaviour has been observed in seals. Seals are playful animals like dolphins. Beyond ‘sea world’ demonstrations they have been used by the U.S. army (e.g. for mine detection or recently for taking pictures from the enemy with small cameras!).

Dolphins and apes are shown in scientific experiments that they can understand whole phrases and commands from their trainers. Indeed, monkeys communicate with their instructor by selecting a sentence (e.g. by clicking on computer or making a word on a puzzle box). In birds the most intelligent bird is the magpie that in order to find its food it can create a hook to pick it up, as it has been demonstrated by scientific experiments. In my house we have many magpies and I confirm that are very smart, amongst the other small birds.

However, animals or birds show their intelligence when they are rewarded with food. This may occur ought to a behaviourist’s pattern (but not absolutely) where food comes as a reward for the ‘intelligent’ behaviour of an animal. Namely, the investigator (often unconsciously) elicits a specific behaviour from the animal that investigates.

My family, for example, had a collie dog named Ruby who was a genius and even understand our thoughts. In fact, when I intended to tease her, be (e.g. to throw her a cup of water) she understood my purpose and run away before I tease her and escaped. On the other hand should not forget a supernatural potential of most animals (such as sonar properties of dolphins and buts, guidance mechanisms of birds that migrate to different continents etc).

Another example of me was a cat we owned when I was a child, that kept crying all the time. My parents decided to leave her at a carpenters’ manufactory, many miles away from our house. However, the next night the naughty cat returned to our home! The same behaviour on a dog could be attributed to its excellent odour, but in the case of a cat I can’t find a reasonable excuse.

Returning to homosexuality, it also occurs in other marine species. Beneath the surface of the sea, to the bottom live the octopuses. Scientists have filmed a couple of octopuses having sex. But later, when scientists analyzed the film were surprised by the fact that the octopuses were both male! In fact they belonged to different species and one of them was 4 times bigger! Biologists assumed that the two male octopuses did not realize that their partner was of the same sex. However, they should do, because a male octopus has a higher pulse when it is on sexual arousal. Some biologists argue that the octopuses of the film that lived in high depth met another octopus so rarely that if they came across they shouldn’t lose the opportunity for sex!

In insects, female parasitic wasps meet male wasps, luring them with their ‘dance’. However, once a female wasp states her preference for a male, then often another male rushes to claim the first male who does not understand that the second male tries to mate with it, because after the contact with the female, the second male smells like a female! Thus, the 3 wasps join sexually together: the female and the two males! Once the female wasp leaves, the second male lowers its antenna (imitating a female) and thus being misled by the other male that mates with it!

The fly of the grape, the drosophila is known as the favourite experimental specie for the biologists. 8% of these grape flies exhibit homosexual behaviour. In a recent experiment, genetically modified (GM) drosophilae (grape flies) increased their homosexual behaviour to 90%! The GM drosophilae had red eyes. They flirted with the male drosophilae (which has white eyes) licking their genitals.

But the normal male grape flies with the white eyes rejected the flirt of the GM drosophilae. GM flies probably couldn’t distinguish a male from a female drosophila. Putting together a lot of male GM (genetically modified) grape flies, all tried to reach the leading male, forming a chain (like a train) of dancing male drosophilae!

In birds, the ash colour male gooses mated with males and when they needed to make a family they found a female and created a complex relationship: the 2 males with the female! So their nestlings had three parents: a male couple and a mom! The advantage for the female goose is that having two males on her side, had a higher social status, a greater chance of survival and a longer time to take care of her nestlings, and find food for herself. The advantage of this triangle relationship is the best defence against predators.

Finally, recently in a national park in South Africa male elephants that were sexual arousal (on ‘must’) tried to have sex with male rhinoceros. When the last rejected the flirt, then the elephants killed them!

In conclusion, sometimes obvious social reasons can explain homosexual behaviour. However, often there are not any reasons and explanations for this behaviour; there is no any purpose (teleological criterion that Aristotle, the first biologist in history, says). But we should not talk about homosexuality, but bisexuality. Contrary to human, in nature the considered as homosexual various types of behaviour are in fact bisexual.

The pleasure in a heterosexual relationship can be explained by the need for perpetuation; however we can’t explain the pleasure of a homosexual behaviour. Most scientists do not easily accept that animals just want to enjoy gay sex. I think that the behaviourists approach should be replaced by "quantum" theory that would accept the chance and probability (not certainty) on the behaviour of species. I believe that the instinct of sex is bisexual, has no gender.

Our DNA creates us the need to have sex, to ensure the perpetuation of our specie. However, this sexual instinct is uncompleted. The animal (even human) that has a penis just looks for a hole to penetrate (sorry for putting it that vulgar) regardless if that hole is an anus or a vagina (or a mouth – on human)! Usually the animals have several elements to distinguish their same kind of opposite sex (feathers in birds, pheromones, etc.). Sex causes pleasure, regardless if it is heterosexual or bisexual.

In human, there are often authoritarian – dominant and / or violent gay or bisexual or heterosexual sexual patterns that psychoanalytically are associated with physical and / or psychological and / or sexual abuse of a person, usually by its one or both parent. Any kind of abuse (usually from our parents) is, psychoanalytically, associated with homosexuality. Abuse may be verbal, sexual, physical, psychological or economical. Abuse enhances the latent homosexual tendencies that we all have (I call it "homosexual instinct").

So with this psychodynamic approach homosexuality and sodomy can be explained as a reactive trend on persons that have been sustained abuse or abandonment (usually by their parents). The theory of gene responsible for homosexuality is possible, but the social environment plays a huge role in humans. Regarding changes in the brains of homosexuals, not known whether pre-existing (inherited, i.e. from our birth) or acquired (after our birth).

But it is strange that homosexuality is considered as normal in closed groups such as men in ships, in the army, in prison, in dormitories etc. It is also interesting that many people had at least one homosexual experience during their life (even in late childhood!) A large proportion of the population that had a single homosexual experience simply hide it, or justify it (as some psychologists do) as sexual experimentation! Also, it is every day (since late childhood!) Also it is strange that often men use homosexual phrases speaking on other men such as ‘I will f...ck’ you etc. Even children say these phrases.

Also we should not forget that in many ancient societies homosexuality (in fact it was bisexuality) was widespread. Today, after sexual repression for centuries by the religions and closed societies, homosexuality is still a trend that occurs (by many) to 30% of the population! Nevertheless there are still homophobic societies like the Muslim countries. Unfortunately, many people today remain homophobic... Nevertheless, in nature bisexual trends are usual, regardless our biases for the oposite.

NOTE

It is surprising that only recently homosexuality in nature was investigated. It is scientifically unethical that so many years biologists selectively informing the public and no reference were made to homosexuality in different species in nature to avoid (supposedly) shocking their audience... So today the ‘normal’ pattern in nature of the male mating with the female is debated. Other say that without sex that ends up to perpetuation of the species, our planet will be devastated. However, bisexual relationships are common in nature.