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As jocund couples celebrate their newfound right to marry in California and opposition grouping call up to fight the ruling , many struggle with this question : Is homosexuality natural ?
On this issue , Nature has talk : Same - sex lovin' is common in hundreds of species , scientists say .
Top 10 Gay Animals
Roy and Silo , two manful chinstrap penguins at New York ’s Central Park Zoo , were a couple for about six years , during which they rear a fertilized ballock together ( give to them by a zookeeper ) and raised the young chick that hatched .
concord to University of Oslo zoologist Petter Böckman , about 1,500 animal metal money are known to do same - sexuality coupler , include bear , Gorilla gorilla , flamingos , owls , Salmon River and many others .
If homosexuality is natural in the animal realm , then there is the question of why development has n’t eliminated this trait from the gene puddle , since it does n’t lead to breeding .
It may but be for joy .
" Not everysexual acthas a reproductive function , " said Janet Mann , a biologist at Georgetown University who contemplate dolphins ( homosexual behavior is very common in these marine mammals ) . " That ’s honest of humans and non - human beings . "
Some scientists have proposed that being jovial may serve its own evolutionary purpose .
" It could be a way that you strengthen bonds — that ’s one hypothesis , " Mann toldLiveScience . " Another is that it could be pattern for heterosexual sex activity . Bottlenose dolphinfish calfskin jump on each other a luck . That might benefit them later on . "
Marlene Zuk , a biologist at the University of California , Riverside , suggested that gay individual contribute to the factor pool of their community by nurturing their relatives ’ unseasoned without divert resources by let their own offspring .
One thing that does seem to be exclusive to man ishomophobia .
" It ’s a very interesting question as to why anybody ever handle , " Mann said . " There are different theories about why people find it peril . Some call up it cut off male bond , like you ’re not playing for the correct team . The singular affair is that people say homosexuality is affected , that non - humans do n’t occupy in homosexual behaviour , but that ’s not true . Then they ’ll say it ’s base and animalistic . "
human race ' resistor to the musical theme of homosexuality extend even to research on the behavior in beast . scientist who study the topic are often accused of trying to forward an agenda , and their piece of work can come under greater scrutiny than that of their colleagues who canvass other topics , Mann allege
" It ’s kind of a shame because I think that probably is a reasonableness why people do n’t look at it more , " Mann said . " That ’s probably why we have n’t get further . You would imagine we ’d recognise more than we do by now . "
