Animal Behavior Monographs 5:1–83.
*———(1970) “Ecology and Social Behavior of the Desert Cavy (Microcavia australis).” American Midland Naturalist 83:415– 54.
Stahnke, A., and H. Hendrichs (1990) “Cavy Rodents.” In Grzimek’s Encyclopedia of Mammals, vol. 3, pp. 325-37. New York: McGraw-Hill.
IDENTIFICATION: A small (less than I foot long) insectivore with sandy-colored spines, white underparts, and prominent ears. DISTRIBUTION: Central Asia, Middle East. HABITAT: Steppe, desert. STUDY AREA: Research Laboratory for Comparative Insectivorology, Vienna, Austria; subspecies H.a. syriacus.
Social Organization
Long-eared Hedgehogs live in burrows and are largely nocturnal and solitary, although small groups of animals may gather at feeding or resting sites. Males take no part in parental care.
Description
Behavioral Expression: Homosexual interactions in female Long-eared Hedgehogs involve a great deal of courtship and affectionate behaviors as well as direct sexual encounters, frequently consisting of oral sex. A typical lesbian interaction begins, often at dusk, with two females rubbing each other, sliding along each other’s body, and cuddling. One female might also crawl directly under the other, sliding back from her throat to her belly. Another courtship display involves one female stretching out full length and pressing her belly against the ground with a concave “arch” in her back. During sexual contact, females intensively lick, sniff, and nibble on each other’s genitals. Sometimes, to have better access, one female will raise the hindquarters of the other high into the air with her paws and lower jaw, lifting her partner’s hind legs clear off the ground while she continues licking. At other times, one or both females will present their raised hindquarters as an invitation for the other to mount as in heterosexual copulation. Often the presenting female is in such a state of arousal that her hindquarters are actually lifted too high for the other female to fully mount her, although she may try. In captivity, homosexual encounters have been observed between adult sisters, that is, members of the same litter.
Frequency: Homosexual interactions occur frequently between females paired together in captivity, but the incidence of this activity in wild Long-eared Hedgehogs is not known.
Courtship and sexual activity between female Long-eared Hedgehogs: sliding (above), arching posture (middle), and cunnilingus
Orientation: Female Long-eared Hedgehogs may have a latent capacity for bisexual or homosexual behavior, since same-sex activity surfaces when females are kept together without males. However, it appears that this may initiate a preference for homosexuality that can be long-lasting: one pair of females who courted and had sex with each other refused to participate in heterosexual activity for more than two years after they were separated, although eventually both did mate with males and reproduce.
Nonreproductive and Alternative Heterosexualities
Oral-genital stimulation is a frequent component of heterosexual encounters in Long-eared Hedgehogs, with males licking and sniffing the female’s genitals. Cannibalism also occurs in this species: animals may eat already dead hedgehogs or else kill them directly and then devour them.
Other Species
Homosexual activity occurs in several species of Tree Shrews, a group of animals found in Southeast Asia and thought to have affiliations with insectivores (and possibly also primates). In Common Tree Shrews (Tupaia glis), for example, about a third of all sexual activity occurs between females, including sexual approaches and following, genital licking and sniffing, and mounting. Same-sex mounting has also been observed in Slender Tree Shrews (T. gracilis) , Mountain Tree Shrews (T. montana) , and Long-footed Tree Shrews (T. longipes) . In the latter species, mounting between females accounts for about 9 percent of all mounting activity. Female Long-footed Tree Shrews sometimes form consortships with one another as well; these typically last longer than heterosexual consortships (several months as opposed to several hours) and involve mutual grooming, lying on or next to each other, and sleeping together. Male and female homosexuality also occur in North American Porcupines (Erethizon dorsatum), including periods of exclusive homosexual activity among males.
Sources
*asterisked references discuss homosexuality/transgender
*Kaufmann, J. H. (1965) “Studies on the Behavior of Captive Tree Shrews (Tupaia glis).” Folia Primatologica 3:50–74.
*Kinsey, A. C., W. B. Pomeroy, C. E. Martin, and P. H. Gebhard (1953) Sexual Behavior in the Human Female. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.
Maheshwari, U. K. (1984) “Food of the Long Eared Hedgehog in Ravine Near Agra.” Acta Theriologica 29:133–37.
*Poduschka, W. (1981) “Abnormes Sexualverhalten Zusammengehaltener, Weiblicher Hemiechinus auritus syriacus (Insectivora: Erinaceinae) [Abnormal Sexual Behavior of Confined Female Hemiechinus auritus syriacus].” Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 51:81–88.
Prakash, I. (1953) “Cannibalism in Hedgehogs.” Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 51:730–31.
Reeve, N. (1994) Hedgehogs. London: T. and A. D. Poyser.
Schoenfeld, M., and Y. Yom-Tov (1985) “The Biology of Two Species of Hedgehogs, Erinaceus europaeus concolor and Hemiechinus auritus aegyptus, in Israel.” Mammalia 49:339–55.
*Sorenson, M.W., and C. H. Conaway (1968) “The Social and Reproductive Behavior of Tupaia montana in Captivity.” Journal of Mammalogy 49:502–12.
*———(1966) “Observations on the Social Behavior of Tree Shrews in Captivity.” Folia Primatologica 4:124–45.
GRAY-HEADED FLYING FOX
IDENTIFICATION: A large bat with an enormous wingspan (up to 4 feet), a doglike face, dark brown fur, a light gray head, and a reddish yellow mantle. DISTRIBUTION: Eastern Australia. HABITAT: Tropical and subtropical forests; roosts in trees. STUDY AREA: Near Brisbane, southeastern Queensland, Australia.
LIVINGSTONE’S FRUIT BAT
IDENTIFICATION: Similar to Gray-headed, except coat is black with tawny shoulders and groin; wingspan over 3 feet. DISTRIBUTION: Anjouan and Moheli Islands, Comoros Archipelago (Indian Ocean); critically
