• Question: Is it possible for any animal to be homosexual?

    Asked by 11ipatejuk to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 21 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by charlie1111.
    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 21 Jun 2013:

      Yes there are lots of examples of homosexuality in the animal kingdom. There was even a book written about it in 1999. There’s a pretty comprehensive list here of animals that exibit homosexual behaviour.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_displaying_homosexual_behavior

    • Photo: Benjamin Hall

      Benjamin Hall answered on 22 Jun 2013:

      Animals certainly exhibit homosexual behaviour.

      Male mallards, for example, who haven’t paired up with a female, will often forceably attempt to mate with other male mallards.

      The way humans think about sexuality is probably very different to the way animals think about sexuality. Only in our culture has homosexuality ever been demonised and called ‘unnatural’. When, in fact, it’s quite widespread throughout nature.

    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 23 Jun 2013:

      Yep – there are lots of example of homosexuality in the animal world – I don’t know if it is possible in every type of animal. I don’t see why not – the reasons that a Duck or a Penguin might display homosexual behaviour can equally apply to any other species.

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 27 Jun 2013:

      It has been extensively proven that they CAN show homosexual behaviour (Sam even gave you a link to a list of examples), which is not the same as saying that given a choice they would be exclusively homosexual. It is a complicated difference, we do not understand fully how animals (including humans!!!!) seek pleasure and why.

      There are however studies that show animals can also show a clear preference for individuals of the same sex if given a choice, so my answer to your question is a big YES.

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