-Caveat Lector- Queens of the jungle Homosexuality is not confined to humans, it is natural in the animal world, finds ANTHONY DANIELS ACCORDING to Cole Porter, birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, so there should be no reason we shouldn't do it as well. The "it" in question in Bruce Bagemihl's exhaustive (and exhausting) tome Biological Exuberance is, of course, homosexuality. Same-sex activity has been observed in 450 species of birds and mammals, and there may be many more in which it happens. Ethology (the study of the behaviour of animals in their normal environment) is, after all, a relatively new science. The first third of the book is a descriptive and theoretical essay, the latter two-thirds a gazetteer of animals in which homosexuality is known to occur. The work as a whole is an immense labour, its erudition clearly informed by intense personal passion, but it is rather humourless - despite the lesbian long-eared hedgehogs that keep popping up in the first third. We learn many interesting and startling facts in the course of its 750 pages - for example, that homosexual pairs of black swans are more successful at raising young than heterosexual pairs. Male orang-utans indulge in fellatio, male walruses sodomise each other, and in summer, killer whales devote a tenth of their time to homosexual activity. Female fat-tailed dunnerts (carnivorous marsupials) often mount one another. Homosexual activity is more frequent among giraffes than heterosexual, with males that rub necks becoming intensely aroused. The list is virtually endless. Homosexual activity in animals has been known for a long time, but not studied very closely, or given much prominence in textbooks. The author ascribes these omissions to the assumption by zoologists that heterosexual activity is the only "natural" form of sexuality, and to the general social disapproval and persecution of human homosexuality. On the relatively few occasions it has been described by naturalists, the explanations given for the "aberrant" behaviour have not been very satisfactory. One explanation of male homosexuality, for example, was the scarcity of females. Just as homosexual activity increases among men in prison, so male animals lacking the opportunity to mount females were supposed to turn to their brethren. Bagemihl has little difficulty in showing that such an explanation doesn't wash, as there are many species in which homosexuality takes place even in the presence of available members of the opposite sex. He likewise disposes of the idea that homosexuality is a stage during which animals practise for later heterosexual activity. The sheer variety of sexual activity among animals poses difficulties for evolutionary theory. Evolutionists have regarded sex as primarily a means of reproduction, but much sexual activity among animals (heterosexual and homosexual) serves no reproductive purpose, and indeed gets in its way - if the object of sex is to have as many surviving offspring as possible. The author therefore suggests that the study of animal sexuality in general, and homosexuality in particular, exposes the weakness of "the selfish gene" approach to biology: it is too narrow to explain the observed phenomena. Instead, he suggests that nature loves or promotes variety and exuberant diversity for its own sake. The mechanism by which such a preference is expressed is not explained. Bagemihl prefers, instead, to allude to "indigenous" cultures (native American, Melanesian, Siberian) which, he says, have a perfect understanding of a world in which "gender is kaleidoscopic, sexualities are multiple and the categories of male and female fluid are transmutable". His extravagant praise and approval of these cultures puts us back into the realm of that most exotic of mythical creatures, the noble (and wise) savage. This division of societies into Western-scientific and indigenous demonstrates, incidentally, that the author himself is no freer of biases than the predecessors he excoriates in his writing. We can all see everyone's biases but our own. It is clear that Bagemihl is emotionally much in favour of the polyvalent sexuality of the modern Western city. He is searching for a sanction in nature for the dissolution of human social boundaries and thinks he has found it in the conduct of animals. This seems to me a mistake. Homosexuality in humans would not necessarily be wrong even if it were found in no other species, and it is not right because it is found in zebras or musk oxen. Wives may not murder their husbands just because the females of some species of spider kill and eat the males after mating, and fathers may not kill their children just because male grizzly bears do so. In deciding how to behave or not to behave, we cannot look to the long-eared hedgehog for guidance. We must decide for ourselves. ¸ © The Telegraph DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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