Re: Terry P.'s false statements

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: : Extract from: http://www.qtonline.com/columns/birdsandbees/penguin.asp : Behavioural Expression: Lifelong homosexual pair-bonds sometimes develop between Male Humboldt Penguins. Like heterosexual pairs, same-sex partners remain together for many years: some male couples have stayed together for up to six years, until the death of one of the partners. Same-sex pairs (like opposite-sex pairs) spend much of their time close together, often touching. They also usually live together in a nest that they have built- either an underground burrow, a shallow bowl dug in the ground, or a rock niche lined with twigs. Unlike male pairs in other birds, though, homosexual pairs of Humboldt Penguins never acquire any eggs. : Courtship and pair-bonding activities are also a prominent aspect of homosexual partnerships. This includes the ECSTATIC DISPLAY, in which a male stretches his head and neck upward, spreading his fingers wide and flapping them while emitting several long, very loud donkey-like brays. Sometimes this is performed mutually by both males standing side by side. Homosexual partners also ALLOPREEN each other, affectionately running their bills through one another's feathers. Occasional same-sex BOWING also occurs, in which one male points his beak down toward his partner and vibrates his head from side to side. As a prelude to copulation, one male approaches the other from behind, pressing against his body and vibrating his flippers against his partner; this distinctive display is known as the ARMS ACT. Homosexual copulation occurs when the bird in front lies down on his chest, allowing the other male to climb onto his back; genital contact may occur when the male being mounted holds his tail up or to the side and exposes his cloaca. Homosexual mountings are sometimes briefer than heterosexual ones, but often the two males take turns mounting each other. : Not all same-sex courtship and sexual activity occurs between birds in homosexual pairs. Males who are paired to females also sometimes court and copulate with other heterosexually paired males (as well as with females other than their own mate). : Frequency: In some zoo populations of Humboldt Penguins, at least 5 percent of all pairs are homosexual, and 12 percent of all copulations are between males. Among paired birds, 10 percent of mountings take place in male couples, while 15 percent of promiscuous matings (between non-mates) are homosexual. Of courtship displays performed by males to birds other than their partner, about a quarter of all arms acts are homosexual, and about 2 percent of courtship bows are same-sex. : Orientation: Some male Humboldt Penguins are exclusively homosexual, remaining with their male partners for their entire lives, or else re-pairing with another male should they lose their original partner. Other males are sequentially bisexual, pairing with a male after having lost one or more previous female mates. Still other males are simultaneously bisexual, engaging in both same-sex and opposite-sex courtship and copulation. Of these, some have a primary heterosexual bond but occasionally engage in homosexual activity with another breeding male: about 47 percent of all same-sex copulations are of this type (as opposed to occurring between bonded partners). In a few cases, the opposite occurs: a male with a primary homosexual pair-bond occasionally participates in a heterosexual copulation. : : Copyright ©1999 by Bruce Bagemihl From Biological Exhuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity By Bruce Bagemihl : --------- END QUOTE : Well Jeremy, "lifelong" relationships would certianly seem to indicate loving feelings and not just animal lust. : : Hello. I just got back from a nice long vacation. I went up to Big Sur. Northern California, and went camping in the moutains/woods there. It was great. It was a nice spiritual place for me. : : I do have one question on this topic. Since X seems to be the right point of view, an others are wrong, I would like you (X) to answer it. : : What determins animals "GAY"? Is it sex? Or in these researches you speak of test for feelings and love? : : I personal think anyone who uses animals as a "plus" in thier argument to help prove a point, needs to look for another example. I'm sorry but when I read "lesbian penguins" I laughed hard. BUT when I read "GAY FRUIT flies" I nearly died. Was there a pun intended there? IF so, it was very clever and witty and I commend thee. : : : : Jeremy S.

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