Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

family arrangements amongst themselves, such as communal care and suckling of young, as well as the formation of CRECHES or nursery groups. Female Cheetahs also sometimes (reluctantly) adopt orphaned or lost cubs.

Sources

*asterisked references discuss homosexualityltransgender

*Benzon, T. A., and R. F. Smith (1975) “A Case of Programmed Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus Breeding.” International Zoo Yearbook 15:154—57.

Bertram, B. C. R. (1975) “Social Factors Influencing Reproduction in Wild Lions.” Journal of Zoology, London 177:463—82.

*Caro, T. M. (1994) Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains: Group Living in an Asocial Species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

*———(1993) “Behavioral Solutions to Breeding Cheetahs in Captivity: Insights from the Wild.” Zoo Biology 12:19—30.

*Caro, T. M., and D. A. Collins (1987) “Male Cheetah Social Organization and Territoriality.” Ethology 74:52—64.

*———(1986) “Male Cheetahs of the Serengeti.” National Geographic Research 2:75—86.

*Chavan, S. A. (1981) “Observation of Homosexual Behavior in Asiatic Lion Panthera leo persica.” Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 78:363-64.

*Cooper, J. B. (1942) “An Exploratory Study on African Lions.” Comparative Psychology Monographs 17:1— 48.

Eaton, R. L. (1978) “Why Some Felids Copulate So Much: A Model for the Evolution of Copulation Frequency.” Carnivore 1:42—51.

*———(1974a) The Cheetah: The Biology, Ecology, and Behavior of an Endangered Species. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

*———(1974b) “The Biology and Social Behavior of Reproduction in the Lion.” In R. L. Eaton, ed., The World’s Cats, vol. 2: Biology, Behavior, and Management of Reproduction, pp. 3–58. Seattle: Woodland Park Zoo.

*Eaton, R. L., and S. J. Craig (1973) “Captive Management and Mating Behavior of the Cheetah.” In R. L. Eaton, ed., The World’s Cats, vol. 1: Ecology and Conservation, pp. 217–254. Winston, Oreg.: World Wildlife Safari.

Herdman, R. (1972) “A Brief Discussion on Reproductive and Maternal Behavior in the Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus.” In Proceedings of the 48th Annual AAZPA Conference (Portland, OR), pp. 110–23. Wheeling, W. Va.: American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums.

Laurenson, M. K. (1994) “High Juvenile Mortality in Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and Its Consequences for Maternal Care.” journal of Zoology, London 234:387-408.

Morris, D. (1964) “The Response of Animals to a Restricted Environment.” Symposia of the Zoological Society of London 13:99–118.

Packer, C., L. Herbst, A. E. Pusey, J. D. Bygott, J. P. Hanby, S. J. Cairns, and M. B. Mulder (1988) “Reproductive Success of Lions.” In T. H. Clutton-Brock, ed., Reproductive Success: Studies of Individual Variation in Contrasting Breeding Systems, pp. 363–83. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.

Packer, C., and A. E. Pusey (1983) “Adaptations of Female Lions to Infanticide by Incoming Males.” American Naturalist 121:716–28.

———(1982) “Cooperation and Competition Within Coalitions of Male Lions: Kin Selection or Game Theory?” Nature 296:740–42.

Pusey, A. E., and C. Packer (1994) “Non-Offspring Nursing in Social Carnivores: Minimizing the Costs.” Behavioral Ecology 5:362–74.

*Ruiz-Miranda, C. R., S. A. Wells, R. Golden, and J. Seidensticker (1998) “Vocalizations and Other Behavioral Responses of Male Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) During Experimental Separation and Reunion Trials.” Zoo Biology 17:1–16.

*Schaller, G. B. (1972) The Serengeti Lion. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Subba Rao, M. V., and A. Eswar (1980) “Observations on the Mating Behavior and Gestation Period of the Asiatic Lion, Panthera leo, at the Zoological Park, Trivandrum, Kerala.” Comparative Physiology and Ecology 5:78–80.

Wrogemann, N. (1975) Cheetah Under the Sun. Johannesburg: McGraw-Hill.

RED FOX

IDENTIFICATION: A small canid (body length up to 3 feet) with a bushy tail and a reddish brown coat (although some variants are silvery or black). DISTRIBUTION: Throughout most of Eurasia, northern Africa, and North America. HABITAT: Variable, including forest, tundra, prairie, farmland. STUDY AREA: Oxford University, England.

WOLF

IDENTIFICATION: The largest wild canid (reaching up to 7 feet in length) with a gray, brown, black, or white coat. DISTRIBUTION: Throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere. HABITAT: Widely varied, excepting tropical forests and deserts. STUDY AREAS: Bavarian Forest National Park, Germany; Basel Zoo, Switzerland; subspecies C.I. lupus, the Common Wolf.

BUSH DOG

IDENTIFICATION: A small (3 foot long), reddish brown, bearlike canid with short legs and tail. DISTRIBUTION: Northern and eastern South America; vulnerable. HABITAT: Forest, savanna, swamp, riverbanks. STUDY AREA: London Zoo, England.

Social Organization

Red Fox society is characterized by highly complex and flexible living arrangements and social interactions, varying both between and within populations. Many Foxes live in groups with several, often related, adult females and one male (or rarely several); mated pairs are characteristic of other populations. Mating systems range from monogamy to polygamy. Wolves have a highly developed social system revolving around the pack, a group of usually a dozen or so individuals consisting of a mated pair and up to two generations of their offspring; occasionally, a few unrelated adults also live in the pack. Much less is known of the social life of wild Bush Dogs, although it appears that they, too, live in groups (possibly also pairs) and hunt in packs of usually a dozen individuals (though much larger groups containing hundreds of dogs have also been reported).

Description

Behavioral Expression: When the breeding female in a Red Fox group comes into heat, both the male and female group members become sexually interested in her. Homosexual interactions involve the younger females—usually her daughters—running up to the vixen in heat, sniffing her genitals and mounting her. Although the mounting female clasps the other tightly, the older vixen usually responds to these sexual advances aggressively (as she does to most sexual approaches by males) by rearing up and “boxing” with the other female while gaping her mouth. The younger females may also mount each other, all the while making staccato, rasping click sounds known as GECKERING and SNIRKING. Pairs of Red Fox females also sometimes coparent their young, sharing a den, rearing their cubs together, bringing food for each other, and even suckling each other’s young. Although coparents are often related to each other, some may not be relatives.

Male Wolves often mount each other when the highest-ranking female in their pack comes into heat (a time when heterosexual activity also reaches its peak). As in Red Foxes, homosexual activity may be incestuous, since the males in the pack are often related to each other. A male Wolf sometimes also mounts another male when the