The biology of same sex relationships...

[natty bumppo 297]

*smacks everybody on the nose with a rolled up newspaper*

goes and wets on your carpet.

You're as bad as my daschunds. Poopin' on porches, pissin' on the carpet.

i'm a guy, the world is my toilet.

got any rose bushes that need watering?

oh no ... I can't say it ... I'm not gonna say it .... oh noes ...

careful ... you might get a little #######.

Edited June 19, 2009 by Natty Bumppo

[Danno 1,228]

Birds do it. Bees probably do it. No one's sure whether educated fleas do it. What they do is have same-sex relationships and, in a new review of published research on the subject, biologists have started to consider what it might mean for the evolution of the animals in question.

Nathan Bailey and Marlene Zuk, biologists at the University of California, Riverside, found that same-sex relationships were a universal phenomenon in the animal kingdom, seen in everything from worms to frogs to birds. "It's clear that same-sex sexual behavior extends far beyond the well-known examples that dominate both the scientific and popular literature: for example bonobos, dolphins, penguins and fruit flies," said Bailey.

Penguins have been known to form long-term same-sex bonds where males will engage in sexual activity. Toads generally don't discriminate between sexes while marine snails all start out male and, when they mate with another male, one of them helpfully changes sex. Dolphins will often touch their genitals together or one male might even mount another and penetrate its blowhole. Bonobos go the furthest in same-sex bonding with regular copulation among males.

But not all relationships should be considered the same. A male fruit fly, for example, may court other males because it lacks a gene that allows it to tell the difference between the sexes. "But that is very different from male bottlenose dolphins, who engage in same-sex interactions to facilitate group bonding, or female Laysan albatross that can remain pair-bonded for life and cooperatively rear young," said Bailey.

Writing in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, the authors said that lots of previous studies had considered how same-sex relationships might have come about but very few studies had considered whether the relationships shape the course of evolution.

"Same-sex behaviors – courtship, mounting or parenting – are traits that may have been shaped by natural selection, a basic mechanism of evolution that occurs over successive generations," Bailey said. "But our review of studies also suggests that these same-sex behaviors might act as selective forces in and of themselves."

In other words same-sex relationships might shape evolution in subtle and important ways for many animals. When bilogists think about selective pressure in evolution, they tend to focus on environmental concerns such as weather, temperature, or geographic features in a particular locality. Social circumstances can also have an impact and Bailey argues that same-sex relationships could "radically change those social circumstances, for example by removing some individuals from the pool of animals available for mating."

In addition, the behaviour can lead to the evolution of defence mechanisms. "For example, male-male copulations in locusts can be costly for the mounted male, and this cost may in turn increase selection pressure for males' tendency to release a chemical called panacetylnitrile, which dissuades other males from mounting them," said Bailey.

Bailey and Zuk are also researching the Laysan albatross, a species in which females form same-sex pairs and rear young together. "Same-sex behavior in this species may not be aberrant, but instead can arise as an alternative reproductive strategy," they said.

Almost a third of Laysan albatross couples are female-female pairs and they are more successful than unpaired females when it comes to rearing chicks.

"Same-sex sexual behaviors are flexibly deployed in a variety of circumstances, for example as alternative reproductive tactics, as cooperative breeding strategies, as facilitators of social bonding or as mediators of intrasexual conflict. Once this flexibility is established, it becomes in and of itself a selective force that can drive selection on other aspects of physiology, life history, social behaviour and even morphology," said Bailey.

Link

I think we have seen these same attempts before of confusing same-sex sex with Behavior, pairing, courting, interaction and on and on it goes suggesting that everything except sex... is sex. (as often demonstrated above)

People have studied animals for thousands of years...These finding are so elementary one must ask... why is it all of a sudden in the last five or ten years, it seems a ** Party has exploded in the wild?

and No one noticed it before but now it is everywhere.

Well not "everywhere" as none of us has actually had.. or even seen say two dogs have ####### sex, these animals with **-like symptoms are always off in some Jungle or swamp.

Who among us has a Gay dog? in Other words he will allow (maybe invite) another male to mount and tie-off inside him? And if you have two gay dogs, do they draw straws to see who is the top and who is the bottom?

You would have to be a Darwin denier to believe that somehow these Genes would just keep hangin around for literally millions of years while all other useless ones were discarded..

Now I don't doubt there are some odd occurring things in nature, Jeez with Millions of species it stands to reason.... especially among domesticates breeds.

But to read this report one would think a considerable percentage of animals are gay. Though it's careful to avoid that exact finding... instead it uses Loosely associated wording.

Why do I scoff, I have been around and worked with animals my whole life, there is nothing more predictable than animals and animal behavior in proper breeding.

Where are all these gay stud horses?

Gay cats, Mating Bulls.

Why do we read about them in these fluke reports but we don't see video of them?

Jeez with Millions and millions of video camera out there no one can get this "big-foot moment" on camera.

I don't want to be so strong as to say this is like "Nazi-science", but don't think for a minute these people who believe "their cause is just" will not, bend the science a bit or... the reporting of the science a bit to further an "overall good".

If there is evidence that Animals have gay-genes lets see the proof and quit with the suggestive word play.

[Peikko 1,575]

I think I must have read a completely different article than the one you read. This study has nothing to do with human relationships. Their is no conspiracy or lbrul poodle fvcker agenda. Talk about seeing monsters in shadows...sheesh!

Fluke reports? Hehehehe, seriously, get your head out the sand and smell the roses Danno, there is a fascinating world out there but your experience of it will be seriously compromised if you insist on being scared by shadows.

[Danno 1,228]

I think I must have read a completely different article than the one you read. This study has nothing to do with human relationships. Their is no conspiracy or lbrul poodle fvcker agenda. Talk about seeing monsters in shadows...sheesh!

Fluke reports? Hehehehe, seriously, get your head out the sand and smell the roses Danno, there is a fascinating world out there but your experience of it will be seriously compromised if you insist on being scared by shadows.

MC, if you are pretending the implication of this story is anything other than

"**... who knew it was so natural?"

You're the one with your head in the sand.

It might have been more interesting if you replied to the topic or conversation... for instance....

"Are you a Darwin Doubter"?

[Peikko 1,575]

Give it up Danno, no windmills here

[Mark&Steph 0]

Gay dogs? My bosses have a female standard poodle that constantly humps other female dogs. Only other female dogs. And the funny part, her name is Sappho.

[Nessa 23]

we're all born gay

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

*smacks everybody on the nose with a rolled up newspaper*

goes and wets on your carpet.

You're as bad as my daschunds. Poopin' on porches, pissin' on the carpet.

i'm a guy, the world is my toilet.

got any rose bushes that need watering?

oh no ... I can't say it ... I'm not gonna say it .... oh noes ...

careful ... you might get a little #######.

too late

[natty bumppo 297]

*smacks everybody on the nose with a rolled up newspaper*

goes and wets on your carpet.

You're as bad as my daschunds. Poopin' on porches, pissin' on the carpet.

i'm a guy, the world is my toilet.

got any rose bushes that need watering?

oh no ... I can't say it ... I'm not gonna say it .... oh noes ...

careful ... you might get a little #######.

too late

if gets too swollen ... well I think you know what to do ...

[HAL 9000 96]

Are we still slipping on someone's slippery slope argument?

[Nessa 23]

we're all born gay.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

we're all born gay.

So, the rest of us are just in denial?

[Nessa 23]

we're all born gay.

So, the rest of us are just in denial?

since we're little we make friends with the same sex, we get along with the same sex. we spend our time with the same sex. then we learn that we're supposed to be with the opposite sex because society says so. that's when we turn hetero. some are smarter than the rest and they figure out being hetero is not the natural way and they stay gay.

[alienlovechild 75]

since we're little we make friends with the same sex, we get along with the same sex. we spend our time with the same sex. then we learn that we're supposed to be with the opposite sex because society says so. that's when we turn hetero. some are smarter than the rest and they figure out being hetero is not the natural way and they stay gay.

So kids are appealing because we are all really pedophiles?

Only societal pressure makes us want the opposite sex?

Stop the madness!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

we're all born gay.

So, the rest of us are just in denial?

since we're little we make friends with the same sex, we get along with the same sex. we spend our time with the same sex. then we learn that we're supposed to be with the opposite sex because society says so. that's when we turn hetero. some are smarter than the rest and they figure out being hetero is not the natural way and they stay gay.

Does that mean that heterosexual sex is just being kinky?