Mountain Zebra (Penzhorn 1984:119); Chaffinch (Marler 1956:69, 96—97, 119) (Marler misleadingly labels some cases of opposite-sex mimicry as “homosexual behavior” while noting explicitly that no same-sex mounting occurs in these contexts); Rufous-naped Tamarin (Moynihan 1970:48, 50); Black-crowned Night Heron (Noble and Wurm 1942:216); Kittiwake (Paludan 1955:16-17); Koala (Smith 1980:49). Two species in which opposite-sex mimicry does appear to be a component of at least some homosexual interactions are Buff-breasted Sandpipers and Ocher-bellied Flycatchers.
20
Northern Elephant Seal (Le Boeuf 1974:173); Black-headed Gull (van Rhijn 1985:87, 100); Red Deer (Darling 1937:170); Common Garter Snake (Mason and Crews 1985:59). Researchers have also found that transvestite paketi (a fish species) have huge testes that are about five times larger than that of nontransvestite males and are thus able to fertilize more eggs (Ayling, T. [1982]
21
Tasmanian Native Hen (Ridpath 1972:30); Rhesus Macaque (Akers and Conaway 1979:76). On a related point, male Laysan Albatrosses may be stimulated to mount birds of either sex when the latter happen to assume a posture that resembles a female’s invitation to mate (typically involving drooping and spread wings)—to the extent that if only a bird’s right wing is drooping, for example, males on the bird’s right side will attempt to mount while those on the left will not. However, this “triggering” effect can only be a partial explanation, since males do not generally try to mount females who are sitting on a nest, even though the posture and drooping wings of such birds greatly resemble the mating invitation. Researchers studying this species (e.g., Fisher 1971:45-46) have expressed puzzlement over the apparent failure of the triggering effect in this context, suggesting that perhaps the height of the incubating females (nests in this species are six to eight inches high) is an inhibiting factor. This is not consistent, however, with the fact that males sometimes mount even taller “stacks” of up to three other males that are simultaneously mounting one another. Similarly, scientists once observed a Red Deer stag mount another male whose posture, as it was beginning to undergo the effects of a tranquilizer, supposedly “resembled” a female’s (Lincoln et al. 1970:101; cf. Klingel [1990:578] for a similar observation concerning anesthetized Plains Zebra stallions). Consequently, they attributed the homosexual behavior to the “triggering” effect of the supposedly femalelike visual cues presented by the other animal. Aside from the fact that the resemblance between a female Red Deer ready to mate and a drugged male is questionable, same-sex mounting in this species occurs commonly in contexts that have nothing to do with opposite-sex “resemblance” (cf. Hall 1983, Guiness et al. 1971; the same holds for Zebras).
22
Bighorn Sheep (Berger 1985:334; Geist 1971:161—63, 185, 219). Another possible case of heterosexual interactions being modeled on homosexual ones occurs in Atlantic Spotted Dolphins: during heterosexual copulations some individuals have been observed apparently “mimicking” the sideways mounting position used during interspecies homosexual copulations with Bottlenose Dolphins (Herzing and Johnson 1997:96). Interestingly, the patterning of heterosexual relations after homosexual ones is also found in some human cultures. In medieval Baghdad and Andalusia, for example, the preeminence of (largely intergenerational) homosexual relations was such that heterosexual women often cross-dressed as male youths—sometimes even with painted mustaches—in order to compete with boys for the attentions of men (Murray and Roscoe,
23
This is to some extent an arbitrary classification, since these three “types” may overlap with each other or even co-occur to varying degrees within the same species or individual. Nevertheless, they represent broad patterns that are a useful point of departure for discussion.
24
In the words of the scientists studing this species, “Female sexual displays formed a continuum from male- behaving females to normal females” (Buechner and Schloeth 1965:219).
25
Gorilla (Yamagiwa 1987a:13 [table 7], 1987b:36-37 [table 4]); Hanuman Langur (Srivastava et al. 1991:492— 93 [table II]); Bonnet Macaque (Sugiyama 1971:260 [table 9]); Pig-tailed Macaque (Tokuda et al. 1968:291 [table 7]).
26
Western Gull (Hunt et al. 1984).
27
On the rarity of incubation feeding in male-female pairs, see Evans Ogden and Stutchbury 1994:8.
28
Some cases of apparently role-differentiated behavior are not so clearly gendered when examined in more detail. Kitagawa (1988a:65—66) suggests that females in homosexual pairs of Black-winged Stilts can be divided into “malelike” and “femalelike” partners. However, many of the courtship and pair-bonding behaviors that are used to make this distinction, such as “splashing water” or “irrelevant preening,” are described by other sources (e.g., Goriup 1982; Hamilton 1975) as being performed by
29
This behavior is exhibited by females when initiating pair-directed courtships, and by males when pursuing promiscuous matings (cf. Coddington and Cockburn 1995).
30
Swallow-tailed Manakin (Foster 1987:555; Sick 1967:17, 1959:286).
31
On the role differentiation of these parental duties in heterosexual pairs, see Martin et al. 1985:258.
32
Black-headed Gull (based on figs. 3-6, van Rhijn 1985:92-94). These comparisons are drawn from studies of captive birds; however, the behavior of wild Gulls appears to be similar—in a homosexual pair observed in the wild by Kharitonov and Zubakin (1984:103), for example, at least one partner exhibited a combination of both “male” and “female” behaviors.
33
For more extensive discussion of the full complexity and diversity of lesbian butch-femme, see Nestle, J. (1981) “Butch-Fem Relationships: Sexual Courage in the 1950’s,”
34
