[anniegetyourgun]

And are they successful in their copulation and fertilization effort? Oh wait, perhaps they are just doing it for the fun of it. Or maybe....just maybe...they are confused and unthinking animals driven by instinct and smell?

[Hegewisch Dupa]

unthinking animals driven by instinct and smell?

Hi!

[honeygrl]

I don't think the smarty pants scientists have figured out why they do it. I just know I've read a ton of articles about the various animals they've found that appear to be homosexual in the wild. I think the monkeys were the biggest shock to them.

[honeygrl]

Just a few examples (and because I find it weird):

"This is true of bottlenose dolphins, which are not known to form heterosexual pair bonds, but which do in fact form homosexual pair bonds, including sex, and often lasting for life."

"In animals in which "bachelor groups" form, such as bison, gazelles, antelope, sage grouse and Guinean cocks-of-the-rock, it is not uncommon for same sex pair bonds to form and last until one or the other member of the pair departs the relationship and breeds. It is also not uncommon for homosexual preference to form among members of such bachelor groups; when offered the opportunity to breed unencumbered with members of the opposite sex or the same sex, they choose the same sex."

"In animals with a seasonal breeding pattern, homosexuality can even be seasonal. Male walruses, for example, often form homosexual pair bonds and have sex with each other outside of the breeding season, but will revert to a heterosexual pattern during the normal breeding season."

species / percent homosexual / percent bisexual / percent heterosexual
silver gulls (females) 10 / 11 / 79
black headed gulls (both sexes) 22 / 15 / 63
Japanese macaques (both sexes) 9 / 56 / 35
bonobo chimpanzees (both sexes) 0 / 100 / 0
galahs (both sexes) 44 / 11 / 44

source: Bruce Bahemihl, Ph.D., Biological Exhuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, St. Martin's Press, 2000