Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity

heterosexuality], which he manages to present in an accessible yet scholarly manner … . I recommend this book to anyone interested in animal sexual behavior.”

—Animal Behaviour

“What humans share with so many other animals, it now appears, is freewheeling homosexuality … . According to Bagemihl, the animal kingdom is a more sexually complex place than most people know … . Bagemihl’s ideas have caused a stir in the higher, human community … . For a love that long dared not speak its name, animal homosexuality is astonishingly common.”

—Time

“In his new book Biological Exuberance, author Bruce Bagemihl portrays an animal kingdom that embraces a whole spectrum of sexual orientation. From female grizzly bears coparenting their cubs to trysting male lions fending off other envious males, the book paints a complex mosaic that resembles humanity … . Biological Exuberance brings the dusty facts to light as Bagemihl deconstructs the all- heterosexual Noah’s Ark we’ve been sold.”

—The Advocate

“Bruce Bagemihl … throws you straight into the gay underworld of animals … He’s a driven man, this author, and it soon becomes clear that … he is taking revenge on centuries of homophobia among scientists, who have chosen to marginalize or ignore homosexual behavior among animals. And as I read the book, I felt myself being caught up in his sense of injustice … . This book does leave you feeling enriched, as well as slightly shocked at the true raunchiness of the animal kingdom.”

—Mail on Sunday (London)

“It seems to me that this book should have been unnecessary. But there has been such a lengthy and deafening silence on this enormous subject, the sexual behavior of animals, that the first revolutionary survey of the scientific literature had to be over 700 pages long! And it is a splendid job, massive enough to fill the gap of the centuries, comprehensive enough to address every question which comes to mind after the initial awakening triggered by the front cover alone.”

—Dr. Ralph Abraham, chaos scientist

“For anyone who has ever doubted the ‘naturalness’ of homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered behaviors, this remarkable book—which demonstrates and celebrates the sexual diversity of life on earth—will surely lay those doubts to rest. The massive evidence of the wondrous complexity of sexuality in the natural world that Bagemihl has marshaled will inform, entertain, and persuade academic and lay readers alike. Biological Exuberance is a revolutionary work.”

—Dr. Lillian Faderman, historian, author of Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers

“A scholarly, exhaustive, and utterly convincing refutation of the notion that human homosexuality is an aberration in nature … . Bagemihl does realize that some among us will never be convinced that homosexuality occurs freely and frequently in nature. But his meticulously gathered, cogently delivered evidence will quash any arguments to the contrary.”

—Kirkus Reviews

Appendix: Other Species

The following is a partial list of other species in which homosexual behavior has been documented, including reptiles/amphibians, fishes, insects and other invertebrates, and domesticated animals.

Abbreviations are used to indicate the general type of homosexuality (and in some cases, transgender) for each species:

F = female homosexuality

M = male homosexuality

FTvM = female-to-male transvestism

MTvF = male-to-female transvestism

P = parthenogenesis

References

Reptiles and Amphibians

Arnold, S. J. (1976) “Sexual Behavior, Sexual Interference, and Sexual Defense in the Salamanders Ambystoma maculatum, Ambystoma trigrinum, and Plethodon jordani.” Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie 42:247–300.

Bulova, S. J. (1994) “Patterns of Burrow Use by Desert Tortoises: Gender Differences and Seasonal Trends.” Herpetological Monographs 8:133–43.

Cole, C. J., and C. R. Townsend (1983) “Sexual Behavior in Unisexual Lizards.” Animal Behavior 31:724–28.

Crews, D., and K. T. Fitzgerald (1980) “‘Sexual’ Behavior in Parthenogenetic Lizards (Cnemidophorous).” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 77:499–502.

Crews, D., and L. J. Young (1991) “Pseudocopulation in Nature in a Unisexual Whiptail Lizard.” Animal Behavior 42:512–14.

Crews, D., J. E. Gustafson, and R. R. Tokarz (1983) “Psychobiology of Parthenogenesis.” In R. B. Huey, E. R. Pianka, and T. W. Schoener, eds., Lizard Ecology: Studies of a Model Organism, pp. 205– 31. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Eifler, D. A. (1993) “Cnemidophorus uniparens (Desert Grassland Whiptail). Behavior.” Herpetological Review 24:150.

Greenberg, B. (1943) “Social Behavior of the Western Banded Gecko, Coleonyx variegatus Baird.” Physiological Zoology 16:110–22.

Hansen, R. M. (1950) “Sexual Behavior in Two Male Gopher Snakes.” Herpetologica 6:120.

Jenssen, T. A., and E. A. Hovde (1993) “Anolis carolinensis (Green Anole). Social Pathology.” Herpetological Review 24:58–59.

Kaufmann, J. H. (1992) “The Social Behavior of Wood Turtles, Clemmys insculpta, in Central Pennsylvania.” Herpetological Monographs 6:1–25.