> How can co-operation and social involvement with social animals, let's
> say Apes, carry forward genetic material?
> If they aren't mating with the opposite sex how can their genetic
> material be carried forward?
Apes share genetic material with eachother. For instance, two siblings share 50% of their genetic material. It is therefore more beneficial for both if one of them has 3 offspring and the other 0, then if both had 1. If you read some of the links that Larry posted in response to my question, there are some intriguing numbers in the articles.
> The genetics which lead to Homosexuality in animals is removed from
> the gene pool of the group, on the few occasions it occurs.
Yes. But if it is a combination of multiple recessive genes, only the combination is removed. If a genotype with only a few of these genes is produces a highly favourable fenotype, the individual genes will prosper.
> It is saying though that if by some unfortunate circumstance the one
> member of a group of animals that bears a resistant gene to
> some disease, or some highly desirable quality is Homosexual, then
> that group of animals will never have the benefit of that gene.
>
> And if it is required for survival, the group will die.If the animal
> were not homosexual that necessary genetic information can be
> carried on to other offspring. If the animal is homosexual then its
> genetic stock absolutely cannot be shared with the group and
> form part of the evolutionary process of that species. It definitely
> ends with the homosexual animal if it is not found in a
> heterosexual member of the species.
True. So the question is what is more favourable: the whole population has a small chance of propagating their genes, or many have a larger chance and a few have no chance.
I think that nature has answered that question.
> Given that and using strictly animals and not humans, I can't see how
> homosexuality would be
>
> i) Normal
>
> Normal in the sense that a calf having a fifth leg or a snake having
> two heads,is not normal. But it does happen.
Species where not all individual members propagate are very common and hence normal. One of the best examples being insect colonies: only a few specimen propagate their genes (bee or ant queen and one or a few males), yet the entire colony supports the propagation of those few. There are many more examples of species where the ratio is not that extreme as with insects.
> ii) Desirable in animals.
>
> A fifth leg or two heads is not desirable in a species
Who are we to tell if something is desirable?
Maybe now we have are leaving the era that survival predominantly depended on muscle and entering the era where it depends on brains having 2 heads will become a highly desirable mutation ...
Jochem
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