Every other Friday, the Outside/In team answers a listener question about the natural world. This week's question comes from Monica in West Hartford, Conn.
Are there any examples of same-sex animal relationships or same-sex animals raising their young?
Outside/n host Nate Hegyi looked into it.
Transcript
This has been lightly edited for clarity.
Nate Hegyi: A few years ago, the children’s show “Peppa Pig” released an episode that was all about families. Suzy Sheep lived with her mummy. Mandy Mouse lived with her mummy and daddy. And Penny Polar Bear…
CLIP: I live with my mummy and my other mummy. One mummy is a doctor and one mummy cooks spaghetti!
Nate Hegyi: The episode garnered the usual controversy. An Italian far-right politician tried to ban it. A Christian fundamentalist organization in the U.S demanded Penny and her family be written off the show. But here’s the thing, “Peppa Pig” was accurate. Over 1500 species – including polar bears! – have been known to couple up with a partner of the same sex. We’re talking swans, giraffes, monkeys, sheep, penguins!
Karyn Anderson: There's a lot of examples in zoos where male penguins will, for lack of a better word, sort of kidnap an egg, and then raise that egg together.
Nate Heygi: This is Karyn Anderson. She’s a primate behavioral ecologist at the University of Toronto. She studies same-sex relationships in the animal kingdom. And she says, first off, there are probably way more than just 1500 species that have this behavior. But it’s been underreported by researchers. In fact…
Karyn Anderson: In almost every animal where we are interested in researching same-sex sexual behavior, we find it.
Nate Heygi: When researchers are trying to figure out whether, say, two chimps are more than just friends, they aren’t only looking for sex. Just like in humans, attraction can take many forms.
Karyn Anderson: If we're talking about monkeys, usually we define their relationships a lot by how much they groom each other. But that's not always the case. Sometimes some animals really only pair up to have sex and that's it, but in other species there is this long-term bonding going on.
Nate Heygi: As for same-sex animals raising their young, most of the species that do that are birds. Black swans in Australia have been documented rearing chicks. And in one albatross colony in Hawaii, researchers found that up to 30% of the parents were actually two unrelated females. These gals would often take turns laying eggs after mating with males who were already coupled up. So, yeah, a little bit of a swinger vibe, but I’m not gonna kink shame.
Now, in this case, scientists believe this was happening because of a sex ratio skew in the colony; there were way more female birds than male birds. But in other cases, it may have to do with genetic or even environmental factors. Some primates, for instance, will couple up with the same sex when their world is more stressful, like when there’s too many predators and not enough food or water.
Usually, when this happens these animals are having less reproductive sex. Karyn thinks this could be a strategic choice: why have babies when conditions are bad? But even then, same-sex chimps and gorillas are still “Netflix and chilling” if you catch my drift.
Karyn Anderson: So it might point us to an idea that even in stressful times, or perhaps especially in stressful times, same-sex sexual behavior is really important for animals as a way of maintaining these important social bonds.
Nate Hegyi: Sex can be a means for reproduction, but it can also be a way to strengthen a bond or show some affection. Just ask Penny the Polar Bear’s parents.
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