that “there were no real copulations” because no heterosexual mounting took place; a similar comment was made by a scientist studying Bonnet Macaques.37 This attitude is also encoded directly in the words used for homosexual behaviors: rarely do animals of the same sex ever simply “copulate” or “court” or “mate” with one another (as do animals of the opposite sex). Instead, male Walruses indulge in “mock courtship” with each other, male African Elephants and Gorillas have “sham matings,” while female Sage Grouse and male Hanuman Langurs and Common Chimpanzees engage in “pseudo-matings.” Musk-oxen participate in “mock copulations,” Mallard Ducks of the same sex form “pseudo-pairs” with each other, and Blue-bellied Rollers have “fake” sexual activity. Male Lions engage in “feigned coitus” with one another, male Orang-utans and Savanna Baboons take part in “pseudo-sexual” mountings and other behaviors, while Mule Deer and Hammerheads exhibit “false mounting.” Bonobos, Japanese and Rhesus Macaques, Red Foxes, and Squirrels all perform “pseudo-copulations” with animals of the same sex.38 Amid this abundance of counterfeit sexual activity, one thing is all too real: the level of denial on the part of some zoologists in dealing with this subject.39
Even use of the term homosexual is controversial. Although the majority of scientific sources on same-sex activity classify the behavior explicitly as “homosexual” —and a handful even use the more loaded terms gay or lesbian40—many scientists are nevertheless loath to apply this term to any animal behavior. In fact, a whole “avoidance” vocabulary of alternate, and putatively more “neutral,” words has come into use. “Male-male” or “female-female” activity is the most common appellation, although some more oblique designations have also appeared, such as “male-only social interactions” in Killer Whales or “multifemale associations” for same-sex pairs in Roseate Terns and some Gulls. Homosexual activities are also called “unisexual,” “isosexual,” “intrasexual,” or “ambisexual” (meaning single-sex, same-sex, within-sex, and bisexual, respectively) in various species such as Gorillas, Ruffs, Stumptail Macaques, Hooded Warblers, and Rhesus Macaques. The use of “alternate” words such as unisexual is sometimes advocated precisely because of the homophobia evoked by the term homosexual: one scientist reports that an article on animal behavior containing homosexual in its title was widely received with a “lurid snicker” by biologists, many of whom never got beyond the “sensationalistic wording” of the title to actually read its contents.41
Occasionally there are directly opposing assertions regarding the suitability of the term homosexual for the same behavior and species. In a relatively enlightened treatment of same-sex activities in Giraffes, for example, one zoologist stated, “Such usage [of the term homosexual] is acceptable provided it is used without the usual human connotation of stigma and sexual abnormality … . In giraffes the erection of the penis, mounting, and even possibly orgasm leaves little doubt as to the sexual motivation behind these actions.” In contrast, a decade later another zoologist objected, “Considerable significance has been attached to the fact that necking males sometimes show penis erections and that one may mount the other … such behavior has been called ‘homosexual.’ However … I … do not feel that the use of the term homosexual, with its usual (human) connotation, is justified in this context.”42 Ironically, where the first scientist objected only to the stigma associated with the term as applied to people, the second objected to the connotation of genuinely sexual behavior in the term as applied to people.
When it comes to heterosexual activities, however, scientists are not at all adverse to making analogies with human behaviors. Opposite-sex courtship-feeding in birds is described as “romantic” and reminiscent of human lovers kissing, male canaries whose vocalizations attract female partners are said to sing “sexy” songs, while avian heterosexual monogamy and foster-parenting are compared to similar activities in people (in spite of the acknowledged differences in the behaviors involved). Even more flagrant anthropomorphizing sometimes occurs: male-female interactions in Savanna Baboons, for example, are likened to “May-December romances,” “flirting,” and other human courtship rituals in a “singles bar”; polyandry in Tasmanian Native Hens is termed “wife-sharing”; opposite-sex bonds between cranes who readily pair with one another are characterized as “magic marriages”; and heterosexually precocious male Bonobos are dubbed “little Don Juans.” Female fireflies that lure males of other species by courting and then eating them are labeled “femmes fatales,” and one scientist even uses the term gang-bang to describe group courtship and forced heterosexual activity in Domestic Goats. Regardless of whether these characterizations are appropriate, among zoologists it is still more acceptable (in practice if not in theory) to draw human analogies where heterosexuality is concerned.43
Many scientists’ denial that same-sex courtship, sexual, pair-bonding, and/or parenting activities should be put in the category of “homosexuality” are based on spurious or overly restrictive interpretations of the phenomenon (or the word). For example, Konrad Lorenz claims that gander pairs in Greylag Geese are not actually “homosexual” because sexual behavior is not necessarily an important component of such associations (not all members of gander pairs engage in sexual activity), and because not all such birds pair exclusively with other males over their entire lifetime. By the same criteria, however, opposite-sex pairs would fail to qualify as “heterosexual”: sexual activity is not an important component of male-female pairings in this species (as Lorenz himself acknowledges), and not all such birds pair exclusively with opposite-sex partners during their lives. Yet Lorenz has no qualms about labeling such pairs “heterosexual.”44 In fact, what we have here is simply an attempt to equate homosexuality with only one characteristic or type of same-sex activity (sexual versus pair-bonding, or sequential bisexuality versus exclusive homosexuality).
In a parallel discussion of female pairs in Western Gulls, one researcher suggests that previous descriptions of such pairs as “homosexual” or “lesbian” or “gay” is inappropriate because they do not resemble homosexual pairings in humans.45 But which homosexual pairings, in which humans? As discussed in chapter 2, there is no single type of same-sex pair-bonding in people: homosexual couples differ vastly in a wide range of factors such as their sexual behavior, social status, formation process, sexual orientation of members, participation in parenting, duration, and so on, and they vary enormously between different cultures, historical periods, and individuals. Assuming, however, that this author is referring to Euro-American lesbian couples, it is difficult to see what specific similarities are required before the label of homosexual would be considered acceptable. Same-sex pairs in both Gulls and humans engage in a variety of courtship, pair-bonding, sexual, and parenting activities and exhibit parallel variability in their formation, social status, and the sexual orientation of their partners. In fact, it is fallacious to suggest that a same-sex activity should resemble some human behavior before we can label it homosexual. A more reasonable approach (the one used in this book as well as in many scientific sources) is to take comparable behaviors in the same or closely related species as the point of reference: any activity between two animals of the same sex that involves behaviors independently recognized (usually in heterosexual contexts) as courtship, sexual, pair-bonding, or parenting activities is classified as “homosexual.” By this criterion, same-sex pairs of Gulls are “homosexual” because all of the characteristics they exhibit are well-established components of pair-bonding in heterosexual pairs of the same species—to the extent that same-sex couples have often been mistaken for heterosexual ones and unhesitatingly labeled a “mated pair” before their true sex was discovered.
More generally, a number of scientists have suggested that the term homosexual should be reserved for overt sexual behavior, and that it is inappropriate to apply this word to other behavior categories such as same-sex courtship, pair-bonding, or parenting arrangements. We might characterize this as a “narrow” definition of homosexuality (such as that assumed by Lorenz). On the other hand, homosexuality, as the term is used in this book, refers not only to overt sexual behavior between animals of the same sex, but also to related activities that are more typically associated with a heterosexual or breeding context. This usage is consistent with a number of studies in the zoological literature, in which the word is employed as a cover term for both sexual and related behaviors (e.g., courtship, pairing, parenting).46 We might characterize this as a “broad” definition of homosexuality. Although overt sexual behavior is by far the single most common type of same-sex activity found in various species—hence the original terminology—the other behavior categories also occur in a sizable proportion of cases in which same-sex activities have been documented. In many (but not all) species, behaviors of various categories co-occur (e.g., sexual and courtship activity with pair-bonding, courtship or bonding with parenting, and so on). There are also numerous cases where only one behavior type is instantiated, or where several behavior categories co-occur in the same species but are not necessarily observed in the same individuals (e.g., sexual behavior may be seen between some animals, courtship behavior between others, etc.). In some cases this represents actual discontinuities of behaviors; in others, it represents observational gaps. When the term homosexuality is
