Gay Penguins

Gay male penguin couples have been reported at zoos in Germany, Japan and China. An attempt to turn the German penguins by tempting them with racy Swedish female penguins proved to be a flop.

Two chinstrap penguins at New York’s Central Park Zoo, Roy and Silo, became the subject of a children’s book, And Tango Makes Three, in 2005, after the two became a couple and raised a baby penguin. The usual hysteria about the promotion of “lifestyle choices” followed, the lesson of the penguins’ natural selection clearly having taught these protesters nothing.

The Bonobo

In the matriarchal society of the Bonobo ape, lesbian activity accounts for sixty percent of sexual activity.  Homosexuality has been observed in all species of Great Apes, which incidentally is a category that includes humans (although not of course if you are a creationist, who are not interested in facts at all).

The Spotted Hyena

From the days of Ovid, the Hyena has been depicted as deviant, and a species that can flip from male to female. This turns out to be something to do with their unique genitalia, and levels of testosterone. The short of it is that the more testosterone “in utero” the more likely you are to be a top.

Lions

For this most butch of species, it turns out that lesbian activity is fairly common when in captivity but has yet to be observed in the wild. (Perhaps the zoos in such permissive places as New York do have their effect?) The statisticians have observed that 8% of lion “mountings” occur between males.

Fruit Flies

What else would you expect from a Fruit Fly than a tendency toward homosexuality? The result, according to geneticists, is fruitless.