Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

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WAPITI/RED DEER

IDENTIFICATION: A large deer (standing 4-5 feet at the shoulder) with brownish red fur and a pale rump patch; males generally have enormous antlers and a long mane. DISTRIBUTION: Southern Canada, United States, northern Mexico; Eurasia, northwest Africa. HABITAT: Varied, including forests, meadows, chaparral, highlands. STUDY AREAS: Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California, subspecies C.e. roosevelti, the Roosevelt Elk; Isle of Rhum, Scotland, subspecies C.e. scoticus, the British Red Deer.

BARASINGHA

IDENTIFICATION: A 3-4-foot-tall deer with a brownish coat and large antlers (3 feet long) in males. DISTRIBUTION: India, Nepal; vulnerable. HABITAT: Meadows, woodland, marshy grassland. STUDY AREA: Kanha National Park, Madhya Pradesh, India; subspecies C.d. brannderi, the South Indian Barasingha.

Social Organization

Male Wapiti/Red Deer live for nine to ten months of the year in bachelor groups, while females (cows or hinds) associate with each other and their offspring in matriarchal groups. During the rut, which lasts for one to two months, males herd females and mate polygamously with them. Barasingha generally live in groups of 3-13 animals, although toward the end of the rutting season aggregations of up to 70 Deer may form. During most of the year Barasingha herds are sex-segregated.

Description

Behavioral Expression: In both of these Deer species, homosexual mounting occurs outside of the breeding season—in females among Barasingha, and in both sexes among Wapiti and Red Deer (Wapiti or Elk is the name for this species in North America, Red Deer is the European name). In addition, Red Deer hinds sometimes mount one another when they are in heat during the breeding season. Female homosexual mounting in Wapiti generally takes place in the cow groups. Usually the two animals engaging in same-sex activity are fully grown adults, but in male Wapiti homosexual mounting may occur between adult bulls and spikehorns (yearlings whose antlers are spikes, having yet to develop prongs). Red Deer yearlings also participate in same-sex activity, including occasional incestuous homosexual mountings by females of their mothers. Homosexual mounting is done in the same position as heterosexual mating, with one animal behind the other; Red Deer stags have been observed with a full erection when mounting another male. In Wapiti and female Red Deer, same-sex (and opposite-sex) mounting may also be preceded by CHIN-RESTING, in which one animal rests its chin on the rump of the other, signaling his or her intention to mount. About a third of all Red Deer females participate in homosexual mounting as both mounter and mountee, while another third only participate as mounters, and another third only as mountees. Reciprocal mounting—in which two animals take turns mounting each other—sometimes occurs in male Wapiti. A type of same-sex, “platonic” pair-bonding is also found in this species. Both males and females may form “companionships” with an animal of the same sex; female companions are usually of the same age, while male companions may be two adult bulls, or an adult male with a younger male. Occasionally bulls will try to separate female companions during the breeding season. Their bond is strong, however, and the females travel great distances to rejoin each other, calling toward their companion until they are reunited.

A female Red Deer mounting another female

Among Red Deer, gender-mixing individuals with various antler configurations are occasionally found. In this species, the vast majority of males have antlers; however, some stags, known as HUMMELS, physically resemble females in that they do not have this secondary sexual characteristic. Interestingly, hummels are in many ways more successful than antlered stags. Many become “master stags,” that is, the highest ranking males, because they are generally in better physical condition, more resourceful, better fighters (in spite of not having antlers), and more successful at mating with females than antlered males. In addition, a few males are PERUKES, that is, their antlers are spikes and permanently covered in velvet. Such males are generally nonreproductive, having undeveloped testes. Antlered females also sometimes occur.