Table of Contents Title Page Snow Introduction Part 1 - A Polysexual, Polygendered World Chapter 1 - The Birds and the Bees The Many Forms of Animal Homosexuality What’s Good for the Goose … : Comparisons of Male and Female Homosexuality A Hundred and One Lesbian Acts: Calculating the Frequency of Homosexual Behavior Within Genders, Without Genders, Across Genders Chapter 2 - Humanistic Animals, Animalistic Humans From Pederasty to Butch-Femme: Uniquely Human? Primate (Homo)Sexuality and the Origins of Culture Unnatural Nature Chapter 3 - Two Hundred Years of Looking at Homosexual Wildlife A Brief History of the Study of Animal Homosexuality “A Lowering of Moral Standards Among Butterflies”: Homophobia in Zoology Anything but Sex Chapter 4 - Explaining (Away) Animal Homosexuality “Which One Plays the Female Role?”— Homosexuality as Pseudoheterosexuality “The Lengths to Which Deprived Creatures Will Go”—Homosexuality as Substitute Heterosexuality “The Errors of Their Ways”— Homosexuality as Mistaken Sex Identification “Gross Abnormalities of Behavior”— Homosexuality as Pathology Chapter 5 - Not for Breeding Only: Reproduction on the Periphery of Life The Evolutionary “Value” of Homosexuality Homosexuality in the Service of Heterosexuality Nonreproductive and Alternative Heterosexualities in Animals Chapter 6 - A New Paradigm: Biological Exuberance Left-Handed Bears and Androgynous Cassowaries: Informing Biology with Indigenous Knowledge A Revolution Under Way: Contemporary Scientific and Philosophical Perspectives - We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals … . They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth. Returning to the Source: Indigenous Cosmologies and Fractal Sexualities The Magnificent Overabundance of Reality Part II - A Wondrous Bestiary Portraits of Homosexual, Bisexual, and Transgendered Wildlife Introduction Mammals Primates Marine Mammals Hoofed Mammals Other Mammals Birds Waterfowl and Other Aquatic Birds Shore Birds Perching Birds and Songbirds Other Birds Acknowledgments STONEWALL INN EDITIONS KEITH KAHLA, GENERAL EDITOR Praise Appendix: Other Species Notes to Part I Credits and Permissions Animal Index Subject Index ABOUT THE AUTHOR Copyright Page Snow The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was Spawning snow and pink roses against it Soundlessly collateral and incompatible: World is suddener than we fancy it. World is crazier and more of it than we think, Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion A tangerine and spit the pips and feel The drunkenness of things being various. And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes— On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of one’s hands— There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses. —LOUIS MACNEICE … hugest whole creation may be less incalculable than a single kiss —E. E. CUMMINGS Introduction The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. —ALBERT EINSTEIN1 Any book on homosexuality and transgender in animals is necessarily unfinished, a work in progress. The subject is so vast, the types of behaviors so varied, and the number of species involved so large, as to defy any attempt at comprehensiveness. And the scientific research in this area is only in its infancy: new developments and discoveries are continually being made, and the extent of uncharted and as yet unknowable terrain is so great as to render any attempt at completeness hopelessly premature. Notwithstanding such formidable challenges, this book endeavors to present a reasonably extensive and up-to-date account of the subject. To help narrow the field, certain parameters have been chosen: only examples of homosexual behavior or transgender that have been scientifically documented, for example, are covered in this book (such documentation includes published reports in scientific journals and monographs, and/or firsthand observations by zoologists, wildlife biologists, and other trained animal observers, corroborated by multiple sources whenever possible). Not only does this limit the number of species to be included (many more cases undoubtedly occur but have not been so documented), it establishes a uniform and verifiable platform of data on which to base further discussion. In addition, the book focuses primarily on mammals and birds—not because other types of animals are somehow less interesting or “important,” but simply because space and time limitations necessitate that not all species can be covered. These two groups are considered to be sufficiently representative and to have a broad enough appeal to warrant their inclusion, however arbitrary the exclusion of others may be. Even with these parameters in place, however, an enormous amount of ground must still be covered. In addition to discussing an extensive array of species (nearly 300 mammals and birds), the book draws upon more than two centuries of scientific research. Some of the findings reported here in a few sentences represent literally lifetimes of work on the part of biologists, who often devote their entire careers to studying one very specific and complex aspect of one type of behavior, in one particular population of one particular species. With this in mind, the book should be seen not as a final, definitive pronouncement on the subject, but rather as a beginning or overture, an invitation to further research and discussion. Any account of homosexuality and transgender in animals is also necessarily an account of human interpretations of these phenomena. Because animals cannot speak directly for themselves the way people can, we must rely on human observations of their behavior. This presents both special challenges and unique advantages to the study of the subject. On the one hand, certain behaviors such as sexual acts can be observed directly (and even quantified), which is often extremely difficult, impossible, or unethical to do in studies of sexuality among people (especially stigmatized or alternative forms of sexuality). On the other hand, we are in the dark about the internal experiences of the animal participants: as a result, the biases and limitations of the human observer—in both the gathering and interpretation of data—come to the forefront in this situation. In many ways this is the reverse of what occurs in some studies of homosexuality among people (including well-informed historical or anthropological studies of different cultures or time periods). With people, we can often speak directly to individuals (or read written accounts) about what their sexuality and associated phenomena mean—and so get a sense of their emotional and motivational states—without necessarily being able to verify their actual sexual behaviors. With animals, in contrast, we can often directly observe their sexual (and allied) behaviors, but can only infer or interpret their meanings and motivations. As a result, many contentious assertions, theories, interpretations, and explanations have been put forward (and continue to be made) within the field of zoology about the function(s) and meaning (s) of homosexuality and transgender. This book seeks to address this historical and very human dimension of the subject, while still maintaining a focus on the animals, their behaviors and lives. The unique historical moment we find ourselves in also necessitates the book being geared as much as possible toward specialist and nonspecialist alike, and informs the organization and two-part structure of the book. Because of the