Of Birds and Bees

According to the brainiacs at the Museum of Natural History at the University of Oslo, human homosexuality cannot be considered "unnatural". Indeed, it seems the museum is opening the world's first exhibition about homosexuality among animals. That's right, folks. God bless the Norwegians, who are affirming that giraffes, swans, and whales--amongst other critters--enjoy some same-sex lovin'.

"We may have opinions on a lot of things, but one thing is clear -- homosexuality is found throughout the animal kingdom, it is not against nature," an exhibit statement said.

That's nice to hear, isn't it? But it gets even better:

"The sexual urge is strong in all animals. ... It's a part of life, it's fun to have sex," Soeli said of the reasons for homosexuality or bisexuality among animals.

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about! Sex is fun! (Duh.)

Seriously, both the exhibit and the article interested me. The exhibit, because it never occurred to me that other species practice same-sex sex... and the article, because it truly astounds me that two male giraffes engaging in anal sex could be trumpeted as a defense of the "unnatural" life I live.


Of course, the braniacs couldn't be satisfied with a "hey, it's natural after all" conclusion, because nature has to follow the rules of genetic evolution.

Still, it is unclear why homosexuality survives since it seems a genetic dead-end.

Among theories, males can sometimes win greater acceptance in a pack by having homosexual contact. That in turn can help their chances of later mating with females, he said.

And a study of homosexual men in Italy suggested that their mothers and sisters had more offspring. "The same genes that give homosexuality in men could give higher fertility among women," he said.

Naturally.