Gay Animals Where Are They?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/academic-takes-swipe-at-david-attenborough-wildlife-documentaries-for-ignoring-gay-animals-8487212.html

One just couldn't make this up, after all the controversy over gay marriages, some academics are taking a swipe at David Attenborough for not featuring enough gay animals in his TV programmes.

/// Dr Mills who carried out the study said: 'The central role in documentary stories of pairing, mating and raising offspring commonly rests on assumptions of heterosexuality within the animal kingdom.' ///

I wonder if Dr Mills knows how all those little baby creatures come into the world?

Or would he rather adults and children, not delight in the propagation of these sometimes these cute baby animals, and move Attenborugh's programme to after the 'watershed', so that we do not fail to witness the life style of gay animals?

[FredPuli43]

No.pdq, homosexuals are driven by natural urges, just as animals are, but those urges bring with them what we humans call love. That is a product of evolution. It is beneficial to our species to have mated pairs who are driven by an urge, not just to mate but to stay bonded as well, since the offspring take a long time to reach maturity. Homosexuals are not claiming love any more than they are claiming a sexual attraction to their own sex. Both are valid statements of fact; though you may say that both states are perversions or deviations from what is best for the species' survival, they exist nonetheless

[Sqad]

jake....

\\\Roy and Silo were 2 famously gay penguins, performing mating rituals and attempting to hatch a rock. They were given an abandoned chick to "adopt " which they did sucessfully. \\\

But how do you know they were gay? I perform mating rituals but I'm not gay.What sex were the penguins"...the same i presume.
Humans rear adopted (abandoned) children, but surely that doesn't make them gay.

Same argument for the vultures.

What your links and you are doing is using the adjective "gay" and THEN describing acts which you are assuming are due to "gayness."

That defies logic.

By the reasoning that you give......any species (human included) that adopts and rears an offspring that is not their own.......is gay.

That is nonsense.

\\\Wat *are* you on about sqad? \\

That is what i am on about and AOG is still waiting for his answer.

[FredPuli43]

Anyone who has kept a herd of cows has witnessed 'lesbian' behaviour in the animals.In dogs, I have several bitches here who indulge in the full courtship behaviour with other bitches; the glance, erect pose, and darting away, to the dance, to mounting. Can't say whether any have a unique preference for other females, though it is certainly the case that some bitches are peculiarly unresponsive to the dog, whatever the veterinary tests say about their state at the time

[emmie]

i wonder the person thought it necessary to put a human term, homosexual, gay to animals, it's not as though the animals have the same senses about relationships as human beings. It may the case that in elephant herds when one dies they all feel it keenly, or so the evidence seems to show. However with many animals perhaps it's a case of trying to mate with whatever is handy, seeing as how the older male is often the dominant one in the animal kingdom, like lions, elephants, so when a younger male cannot mate with a female the urge is still there to procreate, pass on the genes, so perhaps may turn to another male in frustration, i wouldn't call that being gay however. I always enjoy wildlife programmes, especially is they are presented by David Attenborough.

[Zeuhl]

David Attenborough is Gay

:-)

[Sqad]

FredPuli

\\\ I have several bitches here who indulge in the full courtship behaviour with other bitches; the glance, erect pose, and darting away, to the dance, to mounting.\\\

That I understand and so will AOG.

[emmie]

zeuhl, no he isn't..

[emmie]

what makes you think, or put that?

[FredPuli43]

Sqad, how would you describe Oscar Wilde in terms of sexuality? He didn't just raise children , he fathered them.But we may surmise, may we not,that he was homosexual or 'gay'? He seems to fail the test of gayness which you would apply to animals The penguins and vultures referred to displayed no interest in successfully achieving the fathering but a lot of interest in their own sex

[Zeuhl]

/zeuhl, no he isn't.. /

Well you should hear what the Gorillas say about him ...

[Sqad]

Fred.....yes, he was gay.......but fathering (adopting) other children isn't a sine qua non for gayness. Heterosexuals may behave in the same way.
The question that AOG was asking was how does one recognise a gay animal.
JTP popped his answers via the proverbial links and you offered your explanation.

For simplicity I preferred yours to the one of JTP and i presume that AOG will as well.

Never could stand verbosity.

[emmie]

David Attenborough is one of my all time hero's, one of the few who can still captivate an audience with his enthusiasm and charm. As far i remember his wife died some years ago.

[Zeuhl]

/one of my all time hero's/

Yes em

Attenborough is an outstanding animal - far too good to be a human being

Forgive my earlier flippancy

[emmie]

it's ok, he is the last of a dying breed, someone who really does care about animals and the natural world, i wonder who is good enough to pick up the mantle when he goes.

[woolleysheep]

if everone turned gay would that not solve the world population explosion

[Bazile]

//it's ok, he is the last of a dying breed, someone who really does care about animals and the natural world, i wonder who is good enough to pick up the mantle when he goes. //

Apparently he has given his blessing to Prof Brian Cox

[emmie]

good choice, though he seems currently to have his hands full, teaching us poor scholars about the universe and solar systems, mighty interesting it is to. I think that there are any number of candidates like Chris Packham

[Mick-Talbot]

i wonder who is good enough to pick up the mantle when he goes.


I'll give it a go, em. I can whisper and crawl around on the ground.

[Budlet]

Gay Animals Where Are They?

In the closet of course!

...I'll get my coat...

[emmie]

MT, do you have an affinity with animals, like creepy crawlies, prepare to fly to the furthest corners of the globe to film that oh so difficult to find last known home of the lesser spotter weevil, if so not for you.