Brain Changes Seen in Gay Sheep, U.S. Study Finds

reuters uk ^ | 3/8/04

[knak]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers who found homosexual rams in a herd of sheep said they had found changes in the brains of the "gay" animals.

The results, published in the latest issue of the Journal Endocrinology, tend to support studies in humans that have found anatomical differences between the brains of heterosexual men and homosexual men.

The researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine found certain groups of brain cells were different between rams and ewes in a part of the sheep brain controlling sexual behavior.

And in rams that preferred to mate with other males, this area was smaller than in males that preferred females.

"There's a difference in the brain that is correlated with sexual partner preference rather than gender of the animal you're looking at," said Kay Larkin, an OHSU electron microscopist who worked on the study.

"This particular study, along with others, strongly suggests that sexual preference is biologically determined in animals, and possibly in humans," added Charles Roselli, a professor of physiology and pharmacology who led the research team.

"The hope is that the study of these brain differences will provide clues to the processes involved in the development of heterosexual, as well as homosexual behavior."

Animal experts have found that about 8 percent of domestic rams display preferences for other males as sexual partners.

"Same-sex attraction is widespread across many different species," said Roselli, who worked with a team at Oregon State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois, Idaho.

They looked at 27 adult, 4-year-old sheep of mixed Western breeds including eight male sheep that preferred to mate with females, nine that mated mostly with males and 10 ewes.

They found a densely packed cluster of nerve cells in the hypothalamus of the sheep brain, which they named the ovine sexually dimorphic nucleus or oSDN.

The hypothalamus regulates sex hormone secretion, blood pressure, body temperature, water balance, and food intake, and also helps regulate complex behaviors such as sexual behavior.

The oSDN in rams that preferred females was "significantly" larger and contained more neurons than in male-oriented rams and in ewes. There were also hormonal differences between the brains of homosexual and heterosexual sheep.

[Tahts-a-dats-ago]

What a load of garbage. Anyone who has spent any time at all around animals knows that males (or females) mount a member of the same sex for dominance - not copulation.

I grew up on a farm (Nebraska) and have witnessed such mountings more than I can say. However, I've never seen a male pass up a female (in heat) to mount another male - it just doesn't happen. There are no homosexual animals.

[Ken H]

Me so horrrrnnnny.

Me love ewe long time.

[bmwcyle]

Junk Science again

[Twinkie]

If that is the real aim of the research.

[Fun Bob]

Lobotomizing the defect out of the brain sounds like a reasonable place to start.

miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure miserable failure war criminal

[NYC GOP Chick]

I'm truly stunned that nobody else from class has picked up on this yet!

[atomicpossum]

Do you mean officiating over the marriage, or as one of the spouses?

In San Francisco, it's even money on either.

[ThirstyMan]

Not quite. This study and others are following up on ground breaking research by Simon LeVay in the 90s. He showed that certain hypothalamic structures (part of the brain involved in controlling sexual function) were different in homosexual men when compared to heterosexual men and were closer to size and density to female hypothalami.

Homosexuality is a natural phenomenon which is perfectly compatible with a rewarding and fulfilling life

Studies done by homosexual activists are always trying to prove the above proposition. So far none of their research has been scientific enough to pass peer review. The "gay gene" theory has been disavowed by all, except the dream lives on among the wishful thinkers and still lives on as a social mythology.

So "not quite" back to you Ophiucus. So far all these "researchers" have presented are biased attempts at legitimatizing a deviant and morally inferior lifestyle. Dan Quayle was correct, biblically and physically, [not "pc" though] when he said that homosexuality is a bad moral choice.

[Carolinamom]

Just as I thought....arrested development.

[AufSchatten18]

So did the ram want to get married?

[CGVet58]

if we're supposedly the most evolved species on the planet, why do the homosexuals consistently point to occasional homosexual behavior among the lesser life forms - I thought we were supposed to be looking towards higher things like God in order to better ourselves.

[TheGeezer]

Shear folly

LOL!

[ThirstyMan]

...but this study is a load of crap. Unneutered male animals will mount anything in sight. Ask a farmer or a pet owner. If anything maybe the genetic abnormality is an inability to tell which animals are females in heat.

I think it's a load of crap too. My neutered male dog would mount the neighbor's male dog all the time. Didn't matter which end of the dog he jumped up on either. He'd just hump away.

Homosexuality is a natural phenomenon which is perfectly compatible with a rewarding and fulfilling life

This proposition is what they all want desperately to prove. They use these bogus "studies" to make us all think they've come up with some marvelous new insight. But it hasn't happened yet.

Yes as someone aptly pointed out, "Sheep Lie!".......and so do "Researchers"

[GladesGuru]

Judging from one of the images on this thread, it probably wanted to get its horn trimmed!

[GladesGuru]

Judging from one of the images on this thread, it probably wanted to get its horn trimmed!

[TheGeezer]

I remember reading about hypothalamic abnormalities in homosexual males years ago, and the response from the homosexual activists was to demand suppression of the findings. A biological disorder cannot be tolerated as the origin of sexuality deviation from the norm, after all. What if a treatment might be developed?

Oh well, it isn't the first time scientific findings were suppressed to advance political agenda: see Stalinist Soviet Union, Fascist Germany, Castro's Cuba, Maoist China, etc., etc.

[ex-Texan]

No wonder Mel Gibson used a woman and dubbed in a male voice to portray Satan . . . Proving his genius!

Satan is pictured as an evil transvestite. LOL, LOL, LOL, LOL !

[dogbrain]

BAH RAM EWE...!

[RichInOC]

Probably more likely to be officiating...it's so hard to find good sheep in San Francisco. The hills are too steep.

[GraniteStateConservative]

?