Are there non-traditional animals. Homosexuality among animals is another LGBT myth. Now consider what is "norm"

03.11.2019

I.G. MESHCHERSKY, N.Yu. FEOKTISTOV "Once again about homosexuality"

Attitudes towards homosexuality in society are ambiguous. Someone suggests considering homosexual aspirations (as long as they are not associated with violence) as a purely personal matter for everyone, a matter in which society should not interfere. For others, homosexual relationships cause active rejection and a desire to “prohibit” them or even declare them criminal. Still others, standing up for "freedom" and "tolerance", are trying not only to "justify" homosexuality, but almost to propagate it. However, in all these, so different, approaches, there is one common point - a crime or an illness, a bad habit or an innocent prank, a sin or refinement accessible to a few - homosexual relations are in any case recognized as something out of the general range, "deviation from the norm."

The most common argument in this case is that homosexuality is contrary to the laws of nature, it denies the very idea of relationships between the sexes - procreation. And although the condemnation of sexual intercourse that does not aim at conception is often present in cultural and religious traditions and in the prescriptions of different peoples, the use of this argument usually translates disputes about homosexuality into a “biological plane”.

A fairly common statement is that “unnatural” homosexual relationships are peculiar only to humans and are absent in the animal world. This, however, contradicts even what we can sometimes observe, so to speak, at the household level in domestic animals or animals in the zoo. In total, to date, elements of homosexual behavior have been noted for more than 450 animal species - from mammals to invertebrates.

A supporter of the "biological critique" of homosexuality may object that a zoo, a farm, or a city are conditions in themselves unnatural for animals. An altered habitat that is not adequately reflected in the scheme of instincts that determine sexual behavior, or even the simple absence of a partner of the opposite sex - this is what leads to such “failures”. In nature, nothing like this is observed.

And this is not true. Manifestations of homosexual behavior have been repeatedly observed in wild animals of different systematic groups. But if so, then homosexuality is natural, and maybe in some way adaptive?

Such statements are also not uncommon. Back in 1933, the famous sexologist Havelock Ellis wrote in his book The Physiology of Sex: “The natural character of homosexuality is confirmed by its wide prevalence in the animal kingdom. Homosexuality is common in various mammals and, as might be expected, is especially common in primates closest to humans.

The fact that homosexuality is more often noted in conditions of captivity is also quite understandable. It's just that animals in zoos are easier to observe, while manifestations of homosexual relationships in nature often go unnoticed.

Observations of recent years give even more "reasons" for such statements. Here are some examples given by Australian researchers, the authors of the article on homosexual relations in the animal world, the materials of which formed the basis of this publication.

Within Australia and New Zealand, homosexual behavior has been reported in at least 25 mammal and 45 bird species. Male nimble wallabies in captivity actively court each other, and in red-and-gray wallabies and large rat kangaroos, homosexual behavior has been noted for females. Mating attempts or imitations have been observed in female koalas. Stable mating homosexual pairs are formed by male bottlenose dolphins, who remain faithful to each other despite the presence of females.

Homosexual behavior in birds is even better studied. Adult male lyre birds in nature often sing their songs and dance in the presence of not females, but young males. Moreover, the presence of young people provokes their performance of the courtship ritual in 90% of cases. In nature, both males and females can take care of representatives of their own sex. These contacts include ritual courtship postures, precopulatory behavior, and attempts at copulation. In pink cockatoos, both in captivity and in nature, both males and females can form stable homosexual pairs. Partners stay together, despite changes in the composition and structure of their flocks, and if one of the partners dies, the other is looking for a new mate, again among the same sex.

Male Adélie penguins in nature can form mating pairs, in which partners periodically change roles. Males of the Egyptian heron also mate with each other in natural conditions, but usually there is no change of roles in their pairs.

Females of one of the Afro-Australian species of gulls can form pairs, build a nest together and lay eggs there together - as a result, the clutch is twice as large as usual. It is unclear, however, whether these eggs are fertilized, i.e. whether these females previously mated in the usual way.

Examples of parental behavior exhibited by homosexual couples are known for black swans. About 5% of males of this species, both in captivity and in nature, form stable same-sex pairs. Birds show towards each other all the elements of courtship characteristic of swans and mate. Sometimes such pairs can persist for many years. Sometimes one of the males turns his attention to some female, courts her for a while and waits for her to lay her eggs. And after that, he drives her out of the nest and begins to incubate the clutch for a couple with her regular partner. And it happens that a couple of males simply beat off someone else's nest with laid eggs. Then the swans jointly take care of the hatched chicks, and they do it with great success, since such male pairs are characterized by increased aggressiveness and retain large areas of food territory.

In many species of birds, the authors of an article in Nature Australia note, sexual dimorphism is practically not expressed, and therefore we can expect that such homosexual pairs form much more often - we simply cannot determine this. Indeed, this problem is familiar to zoo employees - sometimes only sex determination at the chromosome level allows us to establish the true cause of infertility in outwardly quite prosperous pairs of birds.

So, is it time to consider homosexuality as a “natural norm”? Such an approach, however, would be just as primitive and illiterate as the stubborn denial of the possibility of homosexual behavior in animals or attempts to pass it off as individual deviations, pathology.

Observing certain forms of relationships between two individuals of the same sex in animals, we involuntarily evaluate them from human positions, forgetting that monkeys, dolphins or parrots can be driven by completely different motives.

The most well-known are such possible explanations as the training-like play of young animals, the replacement activity of low-ranking individuals excluded from breeding in groups with a complex social organization, and, finally, the very confirmation of the status of an individual in such groups. In some cases, as, for example, in the formation of long-term homosexual pairs in swans, such explanations seem inappropriate. Nevertheless, we know too little about the reasons that motivate animals to do certain actions. Simply transferring our own ideas about homosexuality, as well as about sexual behavior in general, to other species (and vice versa) makes no sense.

When we observe certain elements of courtship, cohabitation, foraging, shelter building, or parental behavior in two individuals of different sexes, we usually regard them as manifestations of sexual behavior. However, even mating, as already mentioned, can also have other functions - maintaining dominance-submission relations. It is all the more difficult to correctly interpret the manifestation of such elements in relations between animals of the same sex. Quite indicative in this regard are the relations in groups of pygmy chimpanzees, which were once described on the pages of our newspaper. Half of all sexual contact in these primates occurs with individuals of the same sex. But sexual intercourse in pygmy chimpanzees is the basis of complex rituals that maintain hierarchical relationships in the group, relieve stress and suppress aggression and conflict. It is as absurd to regard them as "lecherous" and "perverted" as to call them to follow their example...

So no matter what interesting details of the “private life” of animals we might have to learn in the future, it is unlikely that we will be able to “solve” with the help of this knowledge the “problem” of homosexuality in human society ...

Mythlgbt propaganda about "1500 kinds of animals"

In 2016, the American organization Russian Freedom Foundation, created to support the Russian LGBT communities allocated 54 grants worth almost $2 million. One of the principles of this propaganda is: “Constantly remind straight people that homosexuality is normal and natural occurrence. The more innate and common it appears, the less abnormal and more acceptable it will appear to straight people." Following this principle, a well-known minion of homo-propaganda from Minsk, in his custom video, voices myths about homosexuality in the animal world and makes a lot of false statements, which this article is devoted to analyzing.

Statement 1: "In nature, homosexuality is the perfect norm."

First of all, let's deal with such a term in pederastic Newspeak as "homosexuality", which implies parity with heterosexuality.

In the relevant literature, psychological attraction to one's own sex is described as "homosexuality", and behavior based on such attraction is described as "homosexuality". It may well turn out that a person who is characterized by homosexuality will never engage in homosexuality, and vice versa - a person who has never experienced attraction to his own sex will begin to engage in homosexuality, for example, when he gets to places not so remote, or out of production necessity.

According to the WHO, homosexuality is "exclusive or predominant sexual attraction to persons of the same sex, with or without physical relationships."

There is no animal that fits this definition., since no individual in nature is exclusively homosexual and will not prefer a sexual partner of its own sex to the opposite, if he has a choice. Frank Beach, one of the world's leading researchers in the sexual behavior of animals, wrote that he did not know of a single reliable example of a male or female in the animal kingdom preferring a partner of the same sex. “Females can jump on females and males on males, but without insertion of a penis or climax ... Such behavior can hardly be called sexual, a more accurate definition would be "garage behavior" ... If they had the opportunity, they would rather would have jumped on the female." Sometimes such gardening behavior can be observed in socio-hierarchical rituals, such as expression of dominance or favor.

Thus, in the animal world there is no "homosexuality", but there is same-sex behavior, which often does not have the slightest sexual context. Perhaps the most accurate definition for the same-sex behavior of animals, if human conventions are extrapolated to them, would be " episodic forced bisexuality". Such behavior is observed only under adverse circumstances - with overpopulation, a lack of individuals of the opposite sex, or in artificially created unnatural conditions. Sexual behavior in animals that are less developed than chimpanzees is involuntary response to hormonal changes in the body, caused by the influence of external stimuli, the control and awareness of which fade away as the intellect animal. For example, the spring time, the grass turns green, the sun shines, and the animal starts the breeding program. If individuals of the opposite sex are unavailable, it may well happen that the programmed behavior will result in an ersatz, as in the example of a bull and a motorcycle.

At the same time, not a single animal in nature loses its natural attraction to opposite sex and implement it as soon as possible. Therefore, to say that a dog that has jumped on another dog is “homosexual” is just as absurd as to say that a dog that has jumped on an old woman is a gerontophile, or that a dog that has smelled estrus on the frozen corpse of a downed bitch is a necrophile.

In any case, this behavior is only imitation sexual intercourse, since real copulation between animals of the same sex is impossible for purely anatomical reasons. Even humanoid male bonobos do not put anything in each other's mouths or intestines, as some members of the Homo Sapience species do, but only hit by scrotums in hierarchical showdowns devoid of sexual overtones.

Now consider what is "norm"

The concept of norm is very vague. In the popular sense, it is understood as a generally accepted rule. In medicine and psychology, the state of the body that does not violate its functioning is considered the norm. In statistics, what is considered normalized is that which falls within the range of 68%.

In the animal kingdom, same-sex behavior, which in most cases is not even sexual, is documented in about 450 species while described and cataloged 953,434 animal species. Dividing 450 by 953.434 we see that same-sex behavior in the animal kingdom tends to zero: 0.04%, that is, as far as possible from the norm and lies far beyond the most marginal deviation. Thus, this is not a generally accepted rule, but an exception to it. The only rule in nature is procreation. The bodies of the sexes are created for reproduction and no verbiage will change this fact. Perverted forms of homosexual intercourse, in which the organs of the digestive tract, which do not have the necessary characteristics for this purpose, are used as genitals, are always destructive and fraught with the most serious consequences.

« Homosexuality" is a reproductive disorder that stops the transmission of DNA to offspring, and breaks a long chain of previous generations. This cannot be normal either from an evolutionary biological or from a psychiatric point of view. That is why, until politicians intervened in science, homosexuality was always on the list of mental disorders.

Nature is an amazingly expedient and refined mechanism with the highest efficiency. The assumption that nature for some reason created non-reproductive types of "orientations" that squander vital resources and waste sexual energy - absurd. Nowhere in nature is such extravagance observed. Nature is inherently "heterosexist": it strives for heterosexuality, and this is fundamental to our survival. Complementation of the sexes and heterosexuality is the norm in animal and human biology.

Perversion in the classical definition is considered: “any manifestation of the sexual instinct that does not correspond to the goals of nature (i.e. reproduction), provided that there is the possibility of natural sexual satisfaction. A distinction must be made between the perversion of the sexual desire and the perversion of sexual acts, since the latter are not necessarily due to psychopathology. That is, perversion is determined not by a separate sexual act, not aimed at procreation, but by a general sexual desire, not aimed at procreation. This phenomenon has no analogues in nature, with the exception of representatives of one species - Homo Sapience.

Now, speaking of people, according to the WHO definition: a norm is “an ethical standard and behavior considered desirable, acceptable and typical of a particular culture.”

In the vast majority of countries in the world, homosexual behavior is neither typical nor desirable, and is by no means perceived by society as an ethical standard, and therefore does not apply to the norm. The results of an international survey among psychiatrists about their attitudes towards homosexuality showed that the vast majority consider homosexuality as deviant behavior, although it was excluded from the list of mental disorders.

Statement 2: “Female Japanese macaques, even with an abundance of motivated males, prefer females, mate with them regularly and have an orgasm. They form stable lesbian couples for the sake of pleasure ... "

It's unbelievable how much vile and unscrupulous lies can fit in one sentence. Here we are talking about the study "Sexual partner preference in female Japanese macaques." First of all, the study was conducted in captivity, where there was no "abundance" of males: on 11 females attended only one male. Same-sex non-sexual behavior of females, where there was no orgasm at all, was observed only during mating season, and was temporary (one hour to one week) rather than "regular" or "steady". This happened only in some groups, only in some females, and only if a certain male was with them. Summing up, the author himself points to a direct connection between insufficient number of males and choice of same-sex partner.

The summary of the study states that "female Japanese macaques are best characterized as bisexual", but reading the study itself you will find that its the content does not match the summary or the title. Author, ardent gay activist, uses the terms "sexual partner" and "bisexuality" manipulatively, although the study does not describe anything that could be attributed to sexual behavior.

So "homosexual partnership" is defined as "partial or complete climbing of one female on top of another, followed by sitting or lying on her back." Such climbing is accompanied by “sexual harassment,” which is defined as “pushing, hitting, grabbing, slapping the ground, shaking the head, screaming, trembling lip, body spasms, and staring.” From the following description it becomes clear what is happening here. social ritual done for the sake of patronage of a dominant partner, which temporarily raises the status of a subordinate. That is, this is not sexual behavior, but a manifestation of dominance and submission. The author, by hook or by crook, is trying to present this ritual in a sexual context, although he himself admits that "it would be wrong to characterize these relationships as exclusively sexual." In the study, 11 females were locked in a room with 1 young male, and a portion of the females that appeared to were a rank above him, preferred to spend time with each other, and not with him. This is the same as closing a group of girls in a room with one pimply nerd, and say: "yeah, they communicate with each other, but not with him - a homosexual preference!" However, nature has taken its toll and in the end 9 females gave themselves to him. Here, there was not a violation of sexual desire, but only atypical behavior caused by unnatural conditions and a lack of individuals of the opposite sex. It should be noted that the experimental subjects were descendants of a group of macaques, caught back in 1972 , that is, this is not the first generation born in captivity, and the naturalness of their habits is very doubtful. It should not be forgotten that the sexual behavior of such lowly developed animals as macaques is generally devoid of any hedonistic motivation"for pleasure".

Statement 3: "Some species of gulls form stable female pairs ..."

The western gull sex ratio study states that in the western gull colony on Santa Barbara Island, there are only 3 males for every 5 females. Since these birds are physically unable to create natural pairs, 10% of females, after mating with males, form partnerships with other females in order to jointly take care of offspring. While one earns its own food, the other incubates the eggs or guards the chicks, after which they change. Is this comparable to as if a grandmother and mother took care of the child, living in the same apartment- while one is at work or in the store, the other takes care of the child, but gay activists stubbornly call this phenomenon in birds "homosexuality."

Statement 4: "In the dark-backed albatross, a third of all pairs are homosexual ... 25% of black swans ... 15% of gray geese."

The study he refers to is called "Successful same-sex couples in the dark-backed albatross." It was conducted in a Hawaiian albatross colony in which females outnumber males almost twice, therefore, 31% of females, having copulated with males, create partnerships for hatching and feeding chicks. However, compared to opposite-sex pairs, female pairs have a lower chick hatching rate ( 41% compared to 87% for normal couples) and lower reproductive success ( 31% compared to 67%). That is, this study not only does not confirm the existence of same-sex attraction in nature, but also demonstrates the inferiority of same-sex couples compared to normal couples. Here again we see a forced excess in the conditions of deprivation, without any attempts at sexual satisfaction.

In geese and swans, the formation of same-sex pairs occurs differently. Researcher Konrad Lorenz called this the "imprinting error". In lamellar-billed birds (and not only) there is a critical period, sometimes lasting only a few hours from the moment of their birth, in which a rapid and irreversible " imprinting» stable attachment to any moving object. In theory, this should be the mother, but if she is not there at the right time, the chick will be imprinted on one of its fellows, or even on a person and inanimate objects. This is how lifelong attachment between individuals of the same sex arises in these monogamous birds. At the same time, Lorenz notes, their behavior never sexual in nature.

They can perform courtship rituals and even take a mating position, but that's all. Copulation occurs only with individuals of the opposite sex, after which same-sex couples carefully take care of the offspring. It should also be noted that these studies were carried out mainly in captivity, and not in natural conditions.

Thus, all the birds mentioned here no sexual dysfunction or parental instinct, as in some individuals in our society who, with an abundance of means and partners, refuse to have children or heterosexual relationships. Therefore, it is not clear how same-sex partnerships of birds are comparable to what is happening in the ranks of the LGBT. All these examples only once again prove that in nature there is only one orientation - to procreation, and everything else - dezoreintence, inherent in only one species- Homo sapiens.

Statement 5: "Bonobos regularly have same-sex sex."

Bonobo is a species unique in its sexuality, in many aspects representing exception to the rule. They use elements of sexual behavior to express friendliness and defuse a conflict situation. That is, their same-sex behavior is not based on sexual desire, and it is observed only in female bonobos, which can rub against each other in a social ritual, not in the slightest degree. without losing interest in males. If macaques express their affection for a relative by looking for something in his fur, female bonobos do this through tribadism. Again, there is no violation of the reproductive instinct and heterosexual behavior, as in humans.

Statement 6: "Half of the contacts in elephants are homosexual."

Elephants, like all herd animals, have the right to reproduce. only the best and strongest male, which courts all females and drives away all weaker males. Females for young and weak males are simply not physically available, and nature demands - the air is full of exciting smells, the weather is good, hormones are going through the roof.

If a male does not have a female of his own species around, he will court a female of another species. If there is no female, he will look after the male, if there is no male - for an inanimate object. The programmed behavior will be spilled onto a more and more generalized object. This is just an ersatz, a substitution, just like a leg for a dog.

Statement 7: "8% of rams consistently show cravings exclusively for individuals of the same sex."

This anomaly is associated with unnatural growing conditions and is observed only in captive animals. Lambs, from the moment of separation from their mother until the first attempt at copulation at the age of one and a half years, were kept in same-sex groups. Exclusive contact with individuals of the same sex and lack of social experience with females led to the fact that one third of all healthy rams in the population lost the ability to mate with sheep. When such rams were put in a pen in which there were two females and two males, seeing a female for the first time in their life, they did not perceive her as a suitable object. Therefore, some of the males of this category showed interest only in the males they were accustomed to. Like the above birds here imprinting has occurred, since only males were in their environment during the critical period of development.

However, later falling into mixed groups, almost all males have caught up and developed a heterosexual preference. From a group of 24 sheep only 1 couldn't do it. Subsequent studies have shown that the earlier the acquaintance of rams with females occurs, the less likely this behavior will be, even if the acquaintance is purely visual, through the fence.

Leading animal sexual behavior researcher Frank Beach says that physical sexual gestures, such as courtship or cage rituals, are ingrained at birth, but how, when, and with whom to use them can be learned through social relationships by interacting with other individuals. A recent study by the California Institute of Technology fully confirmed his observations: the neural circuits responsible for gender recognition are not entirely innate. They cannot form without social experience, that is, without interaction with females. In an experiment on mice, communication with females during only 30 minutes was sufficient for the neurons of young males to acquire "sexual" differentiation, while this did not occur in animals that had contact only with males.

Claim 8: "Drosophila flies"

The recognition of a mating partner in these flies, like in many animals, depends on visual, acoustic and chemical signals - pheromones. Some mutated males have lost the ability to sense the male pheromone Tricosen-7 and by mistake trying to care for male flies. This is not because they are attracted to males, but because, being unable to correctly recognize the signal, they mistake them for females. Researchers call it " gender blindness” and emphasize that same-sex courtship is an atypical behavior associated with inadequate functioning of the nervous system. At the same time, they note that such males show no change in heterosexual courtship or copulation.

Statement 9: "Homosexual behavior has been identified in 1500 species."

According to the gay activists who organized a photo exhibition of same-sex animal behavior in Oslo in 2006, “homosexual behavior has been observed in more than 1500 species ". However, there is no evidence for this. With the same success it can be stated that levitation was observed in 10 species of unicorns. Same-sex behavior has only been documented in just over 450 species, including cases of sexual behavior - single.

Pedophilia

cannibalism

Infanticide

LGBT Lobby, paying for such stuffing, is ready to stand on the same level of development with flies and sheep, just to prove the natural origin of his aberration, but one should not confuse the norm and the natural deviation from the norm. The fact that some phenomenon exists in animals does not mean that it is normal. If animals can mate with anyone and anything, it doesn't mean that people should do the same. Animals are also characterized by pedophilia, coprophagia, incest, rape, cannibalism, murder, infanticide, theft, and even homosexual necrophilia, but would it ever occur to someone to advocate for acceptability these phenomena in our society, based on their presence in the animal kingdom?

No animal can control its own instincts, while a person, if, of course, he is mentally healthy, has such an ability. Animals do not have conscious choice, rational thinking; they cannot plan their actions, evaluate their consequences, and even be aware of their essence or enjoy copulation (with the exception of large anthropoids and dolphins). Therefore, deliberately distorted and manipulative verbiage about the homosexuality of animals - pure nonsense.

The accepted status quo in science remains unchanged: same-sex sexual behavior is unique to humans and practically has no analogues among non-human animals.

Homosexuality is not the norm - it's a deviation!

impositionhomosexuality

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Scientists have proven that there are many types of animals that practice homosexual relationships.

According to researchers, homosexual behavior is observed in more than 1,500 species of creatures. Of course, it will not be possible to fit all of them in one article, but let us recall at least the brightest ones!

female gorillas

Scientists observing the behavior of gorillas in Rwanda were surprised to find that out of 22 females they observed, 18 entered into homosexual intercourse. According to the researchers, ladies begin to pay attention to their girlfriends because of the dissatisfaction they experience if the males they like refuse them. Scientist Cyril Grueter, who observed the monkeys, said:

“I got the impression that females enjoy sexual interaction with other females.”

female albatrosses

In 2007, scientists observing Leysan albatrosses found that about 30% of all pairs of birds were lesbian. The reason for this was the lack of males.

Like heterosexual partners, females in love jointly participate in building a nest, clean each other's feathers, and become jealous when males appear. However, for the sake of having offspring, “non-traditional” ladies sometimes still have to meet with gentlemen, but they prefer to raise chicks together with faithful friends. There are cases when same-sex pairs of albatrosses stayed together until 19 years old.

king penguins

King penguins form gay couples when they cannot find a partner of the opposite sex. These couples usually exist until one of the partners finds a heterosexual life partner.

The most famous homosexual pair of penguins were males Roy and Sylow from the New York Zoo. The partners lived together for six years and even raised a chick - a female named Tango. She hatched from an egg that the zookeepers took from another couple and planted on Roy and Saylow, noticing the sharpening of their parental instincts.

Subsequently, Tango formed a lesbian couple with another female, and her adoptive father, Saylou, left his partner for a new inhabitant of the zoo, Scrappy the penguin.

giraffes

According to the findings of scientists, homosexual relationships are even more common among giraffes than heterosexual contacts. It's all about the inaccessibility of their females, who often reject young males, preferring older partners. So young giraffes have to be content with each other's company ...

Bonobo

For bonobo monkeys, same-sex sex, especially lesbian sex, is commonplace. These chimpanzee relatives are generally considered one of the most hypersexual animals. Studies have shown that almost 75% of sexual contacts between bonobos are for pleasure and do not lead to the birth of offspring, in addition, almost all monkeys of this species are bisexual.

Monkeys use sexual play to defuse nascent conflicts and to strengthen new social bonds. For example, a female adolescent often leaves her family to join a new community in which she has sexual intercourse with other females. Thus, she becomes a full member of the new team.

Dolphins

If bonobo monkeys can be awarded the title of "the most loving animals on land", then in the marine world such an honor belongs to dolphins. These animals love a variety of carnal pleasures, not neglecting homosexual contacts.

elephants

Homosexual couples are not uncommon in elephants. The fact is that female elephants are ready for sexual contact only once a year, and after mating, they bear a cub for almost 2 years. For these reasons, finding a female ready for carnal pleasures is quite problematic. Males are not satisfied with long-term abstinence, so they practice same-sex relationships.

lions

African lions, which are considered the epitome of masculinity, often engage in homosexual intercourse. And some of them even abandon the traditional life surrounded by a harem of females for a long union with a same-sex partner!

gray geese

Sometimes male gray geese form homosexual pairs. They do this not because of a natural fatal attraction, but in order to maintain social status. The fact is that a single goose that does not have a partner is at the very bottom of the goose hierarchy, and none of the members of the flock considers him, while his “married” comrades are much more respected. That is why males who have not been able to form a pair with a female look for partners among same-sex relatives. Such behavior is not observed among female gray geese.

black swans

About 25% of black swan couples are homosexual. A pair of males may even temporarily invite a female into their family and cohabit with her until she lays eggs. Then the lady is mercilessly expelled, and from now on, the care of the offspring lies entirely with the fathers.

Ivan Kurennoy

The journal World of Science: Pedagogy and Psychology, included in the List of Russian peer-reviewed scientific journals, approved by the Higher Attestation Commission (VAK RF) and part of the database of the Russian Science Citation Index, recently published an article that dispelled the myth of homosexuality in animals.

In the rhetoric of LGBT activists, one can often hear the statement that homosexuality is a kind of norm for humans, since it is allegedly observed in nature - among animals. This statement is built on the following consecutive statements:

1) homosexuality is observed among animals;

2) what animals do is natural;

3) therefore, homosexuality is natural for a person.

The problem with this conclusion is that paragraph 1 represents a substitution of concepts and a biased anthropomorphic interpretation of animal behavior, and paragraph 2 is based on an extremely selective extrapolation of the phenomena of the animal world to human life.

First of all, it should be noted that among animals it is not "homosexuality" (sexual attraction to the same sex and actions based on it), but same-sex behavior that usually has nothing to do with sexual attraction or even with sexual intercourse as such. Even LGBT activist Simon LeVay, known for his brain research, admitted that “in the animal world there is no “homosexual orientation” in the human sense, and recorded episodes of homosexual behavior never lead to their replacement for heterosexual activity” (LeVay, 1996 ).

Animal sexual behavior researchers point out that although they use commonly accepted terms to describe same-sex behavior in animals, such as "homosexual", "mate preference" and "sexual orientation", these terms are not at all identical to the terms used to describe human orientation, representing is a much more complex phenomenon (Roselli, 2009).

According to linguist Bruce Bagemihl, in a book published by a publishing house specializing in romance novels, fiction, and homosexual literature, including pornography, “same-sex behavior has been documented in over 450 species of animals” (Bagemihl, 1999).

Although this may seem like a lot, dividing the 450 species of animals by the 1,552,319 species described by science (Zhang. 2011), we see that same-sex behavior in the animal kingdom tends to zero: 0.0002. In addition, these statistics included any interactions between individuals of the same sex, which for the most part represent examples of parental activity, hierarchical rituals, courtship ceremonies, erroneous identification of a partner, the formation of partnerships due to violation of imprinting or inaccessibility of an individual of the opposite sex, and the like. Examples of sexual behavior (or rather, its imitation, since neither penetration nor climax, as a rule, occurs) among these 450 animal species are isolated, and even in these rare cases, the animal does not have any interest in another animal due to the fact that that it is of the same sex with him, as is the case with some people. Here either a social ritual takes place, or a substitution (like the owner's leg for a dog), which occurs due to the inaccessibility of a partner of the opposite sex.

A series of experiments with a male turtledove is a good example of how the threshold of irritation decreases with a long failure to perform any instinctive action: a few days after a female of his species was removed from the male’s cage, he began to court a female of another species, whom he had completely ignored. A few days later, he began to perform his bows and coos in front of a stuffed dove, even later - in front of a rag wound in a knot, and after a few weeks of loneliness, he began to address his current to an empty corner of the cage, where the intersection of the rails created at least some kind of optical point, capable of holding his gaze. Goethe expressed this phenomenon in the saying of Mephistopheles: "With this thirst unquenched, you will see Helen in everyone"; and if you are a male turtledove, you will eventually see her even in an old dusty rag (Lorenz, 1963).

In any case, turning to the animal world to assess human behavior is meaningless, since the presence of a certain phenomenon in animals in no way indicates its acceptability for humans. In addition to same-sex behavior, animals can observe coprophagia, incest, intercourse with corpses and cubs, rape, cannibalism, theft and murder, which does not at all make them acceptable in our society. Zoologist and LGBT activist Paul Veisy admitted in an interview: “We should not use animals to develop moral and social policies for the human society in which we want to live. Animals do not take care of the elderly. I don't think this should be the basis for closing nursing homes."

It should be mentioned that for more than 10 years the myth about “1500 species of animals exhibiting homosexual behavior” has been circulating on the net, perpetuated in print and picked up even by such respectable media as BBC, Time, Telegraph, DW, etc. In fact, it turned out that the figure “1500 ”, as expected, has no basis. Norwegian zoologist Peter Böckman, who first voiced this figure, could not provide its source and admitted his mistake:

“I have been searching for the second week now, but I cannot find a definitive list of 1500 species. I cannot conclude otherwise that I must have made a mistake in writing the original text of the exhibition, perhaps by combining two matching lists from different books, or by counting the same list twice. Thus, the actual content of the statement that "homosexuality was observed in 1500 species" made in 2002 at the opening of the exhibition was erroneous.

This refers to the exhibition he organized in Oslo in 2006, dedicated to the same-sex behavior of animals, which was sponsored by the state, since the formation of a tolerant attitude towards homosexuality is part of the state policy of Norway. Böckman acknowledged the exhibition's "political motives" and said, "I quite enjoyed using these numbers in various interviews as it was an impressive, easy-to-remember number with a good shock effect that shows that it's not just a handful of odd cats and dogs." .

Biologists note that the same-sex behavior of animals is not only of academic interest, but is often used in resolving legal issues in humans. (Bailey & Zuk, 2009). For example, in Lawrence v. Texas, examples from a book by Bruce Beigmeel were presented as evidence, which allowed the sodomy laws to be overturned in Texas and other states.

Ivan Kurennoy
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In the animal kingdom, homosexuality is a fairly common phenomenon, especially among herd animals. About 1,500 species of animals, ranging from mammals to crabs and worms, are believed to have sex with members of the same sex. In fact, this number is much higher, it's just that other animals are not as well studied.

Here are 10 representatives of the animal world who are known for their non-traditional sexual orientation.

1. Elephants

An example of non-traditional sexual orientation in elephants was the African elephant Nino, who lived in a Polish zoo. Niño preferred the company of males and ignored, if not terrorized, females by beating them with his trunk.

In the wild, male elephants live apart from the common herd and form relationships that include sexual encounters in which they climb on top of each other, exchange kisses and intertwine their trunks.

2. Penguins

Homosexual behavior is also not uncommon among penguins. For example, the spectacled penguins Wendell and Cass lived quietly together for many years in the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn, until in 2002 genetic tests confirmed that they were males. The couple met when they were 3-4 years old, and together they lived for 7 years until Cass died.

Another famous couple was Roy and Sylow, who lived at the New York Central Zoo. For a long time, they wanted to raise offspring and hatched stones until they were laid eggs of other penguins. For five years of marriage, the couple raised a female penguin, and then Sylou left for another.

3. Dolphins

In many species, homosexuality is not only common but the norm. So, for example, male dolphins form pairs of representatives of their sex and take care of each other. Such care includes both sexual relationships and occasional underwater orgies. They also mate with females, but only during the breeding season.

4. Hyenas

When it comes to matriarchal society in the animal kingdom, the sexual behavior of females often puzzles researchers. For example, female hyenas have been misleading scientists for a long time, since their genitals looked like a penis and they were considered "transsexuals."

In hyenas, often those who have been exposed to more testosterone become more attractive. Often these are female hyenas, which are larger and more aggressive than males. At the same time, they often demonstrate traditionally masculine features and have sex with each other.

5. Gray whale

Gray whales are one of the largest nomads in the animal kingdom, traveling in small flocks up to 20 thousand km per year. They also differ in homosexual orientation and can participate in a kind of orgies of 5 males. They roll, splashing water and rubbing their bellies against each other so that their genitals touch.

6. Swans

Swans belong to the birds of the duck family. About 20 percent of the swans are in a homosexual couple, and in almost 25 percent of all families, the parents are of the same sex. Often homosexual couples drive away their heterosexual relatives and take the laid eggs.

7 Macaques

Both male and female macaques engage in homosexual encounters. Female macaques form strong bonds with each other and are usually monogamous. During the breeding season, they often enter into unconventional relationships. During genital caresses, they express their pleasure with cackling sounds. In males, homosexual encounters are usually "one night stands".

8. Bonobo

One of our closest relatives, the bonobo pygmy chimpanzee, is also no stranger to sexual pleasure. Almost all bonobos are bisexual and often resolve conflicts by following the principle of "make love, not war." They often mate, while expressing their pleasure with loud cries, and enter into homosexual relationships. About two-thirds of females also have sex with members of their own sex.

9 Guiana Rock Cockerel

The rock betta, found in Guyana in South America, is distinguished by its striking appearance with attractive orange plumage. Perhaps few of us are familiar with this bird, but even fewer people realize that almost 40 percent of males engage in homosexual activity, and a small percentage of rocky bettas never mate with females.

10. flour beetle

The male beetle of the genus Khrushchak flour acts on the basis of his instincts and what he considers right at the moment. There is evidence that these beetles engage in homosexual intercourse to practice mating and get rid of old sperm.

Children raised by animals