On 17 Apr 2008 at 15:29, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Proponents of the hereditary basis of homosexuality seem to argue that > the behavior extends to the animal kingdom. > However it is also known(particuliarly in rats) that male animals will > mount other male animals that carry female > pheronomic variables.This would seem to indicate that a male rat will > mount another male rat that smells like a female because > of exposure,and not that the animal is gay. > > Send me something.
The video Sue Franz sent us to was very cute, and generally accurate, as far as I could tell. But I thought the claim that homosexuality is common among animals was inaccurate or at least, misleading. The problem is that while occasional homosexual activity is common in a wide variety of species, exclusively homosexual behaviour, such as is found in humans, isn't. The only species I am aware of in which a sub-group is consistently homosexual is sheep (although I believe this has also been claimed for a famous pair of zoo penguins). A quick search turns up this _New Scientist_ source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3008-homosexuality-is-biological- suggests-gay-sheep-study.html or http://tinyurl.com/26mmj9 Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
