List of mammals displaying homosexual behavior

For these mammals, there is documented evidence of homosexual behavior of one or more of the following kinds: sexual behavior, courtship, affection, pair bonding, or parenting.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

Giraffes in Kenya; giraffes have been called "especially gay" for often engaging in male-male sexual behavior more than male-female (heterosexual) sex.[1][2]

Bruce Bagemihl writes that the presence of same-sex sexual behavior was not officially observed on a large scale until the 1990s due to possible observer bias caused by social attitudes towards LGBT people, which made homosexuality in animals a taboo subject.[3][4] He devotes three chapters; Two Hundred Years at Looking at Homosexual Wildlife, Explaining (Away) Animal Homosexuality, and Not For Breeding Only in his 1999 book Biological Exuberance to the "documentation of systematic prejudices" where he notes "the present ignorance of biology lies precisely in its single-minded attempt to find reproductive (or other) "explanations" for homosexuality, transgender, and non-procreative and alternative heterosexualities.[5] Petter Bøckman, academic adviser for the Against Nature? exhibit stated "[M]any researchers have described homosexuality as something altogether different from sex. They must realise that animals can have sex with who they will, when they will and without consideration to a researcher's ethical principles". Homosexual behavior is found amongst social birds and mammals, particularly the sea mammals and the primates.[4]

Animal sexual behavior takes many different forms, even within the same species and the motivations for and implications of their behaviors have yet to be fully understood. Bagemihl's research shows that homosexual behavior, not necessarily sexual activity, has been documented in about 500 species as of 1999, ranging from primates to gut worms.[3][6] Homosexuality in animals is controversial with some social conservatives because it asserts the naturalness of homosexuality in humans, while others counter that it has no implications and is nonsensical to equate animal behavior to morality.[7][8] On the other hand, social liberals and many gay people believe homosexuality is natural, and therefore find the existence of homosexual sex in animals unsurprising. Animal preference and motivation is always inferred from behavior. Thus homosexual behavior has been given a number of terms over the years. Modern research[9][10][11][12] applies the term homosexuality to all sexual behavior (copulation, genital stimulation, mating games and sexual display behavior) between animals of the same sex.

This a list of some mammals that had been recorded engaging in homosexual behavior, which is part of a larger list of animals displaying homosexual behavior including birds, insects, fish, etc.

Selected images

• 
  Male bonnet macaques, similar to the youthful ones pictured, "give each other hand-jobs and sometimes eat the resulting semen"[1] although using "hand-job" can be seen as overly anthropomorphic.[13]
• 
  Ugandan kob - "Female kob perform oral sex on each other and even stroke each other's vulvas with their forelegs. They may exhibit urolagnia during sex, one female will urinate while the other sticks her nose in the stream."[1][14]
• 
  "Elevated levels of testosterone in utero"[15] increases aggressiveness and both male and female spotted hyenas mount submissive same-sex members who likely have lower levels of testosterone from their mothers.[16][17][18]
• 
  In "slip-and-slide" orgies, groups of male grey whales, one of the oldest species of mammals, roll in the ocean rubbing their bellies against each other so that their genitals are touching.[19][20]

List

• African buffalo[21]
• African elephant[22]
• Agile wallaby[23]
• Amazon river dolphin[19]
• American bison[21][24]
• Antelope[25]
• Asian elephant[26]
• Asiatic mouflon[27]
• Atlantic spotted dolphin[19]
• Australian sea lion[28]
• Barasingha[29]
• Barbary sheep[30]
• Beluga[19]
• Bharal[31]
• Bighorn sheep[30]
• Black bear[32]
• Blackbuck[33]
• Black-footed rock wallaby[23]
• Black-tailed deer[29]
• Bonin flying fox[34]
• Bonnet macaque[13]
• Bonobo[35][36][37]
• Bottlenose dolphin[19][38]
• Bowhead whale[19]
• Brazilian guinea pig[39]
• Bridled dolphin[19]
• Brown bear[32]
• Brown capuchin[40]
• Brown long-eared bat[41]
• Brown rat[42]
• Buffalo[30]
• Caribou[43]
• Cat (domestic)[44]
• Cattle (domestic)[45]
• Chacma baboon[46]
• Cheetah[26]
• Chital[47]
• Collared peccary[48]
• Commerson's dolphin[19]
• Common brushtail possum[49]
• Common chimpanzee[50]
• Common dolphin[19]
• Common marmoset[40]
• Common pipistrelle[51]
• Common raccoon[52]
• Common tree shrew[53]
• Cotton-top tamarin[54]
• Crab-eating macaque[13]
• Crested black macaque[13]
• Dall's sheep[30]
• Daubenton's bat[41]
• Dog (domestic)[55]
• Donkey[56]
• Doria's tree kangaroo[23]
• Dugong[57]
• Dwarf cavy[39]
• Dwarf mongoose[58]
• Eastern cottontail rabbit[42]
• Eastern grey kangaroo[23]
• Elk[29]
• Euro (a subspecies of wallaroo)[23]
• European bison[21]
• European polecat[59]
• Fallow deer[29]
• False killer whale[19]
• Fat-tailed dunnart[60]
• Fin whale[19]
• Fox[61]
• François' langur[62]
• Gazelle[25]
• Gelada baboon[63]
• Giraffe[4][25][64]
• Goat (domestic)[30]
• Golden monkey[65]
• Gorilla[66][67]
• Grant's gazelle[25]
• Grey-headed flying fox[41]
• Grey seal[28]
• Grey squirrel[68]
• Grey whale[19][20]
• Grey wolf[69]
• Grizzly bear[32]
• Guinea pig (domestic)[39]
• Hamadryas baboon[63]
• Hamster (domestic)[39]
• Hanuman langur[70]
• Harbor porpoise[71]
• Harbor seal[28]
• Himalayan tahr[72]
• Hoary marmot[73]
• Horse (domestic)[74]
• Human (see Human sexual behavior)
• Indian fruit bat[41]
• Indian muntjac[75]
• Indian rhinoceros[76]
• Japanese macaque[13]
• Javelina[77]
• Kangaroo rat[42]
• Killer whale[19]
• Koala[78][79]
• Kob[14][80]
• Larga seal[28]
• Least chipmunk[68]
• Lechwe[80]
• Lesser bushbaby[81]
• Lion[26][82][83][84][85][86]
• Lion-tailed macaque[13]
• Lion tamarin[40]
• Little brown bat[41]
• Livingstone's fruit bat[41]
• Long-eared hedgehog[87]
• Long-footed tree shrew[53]
• Macaque[88]
• Markhor[89]
• Marten[52]
• Masked palm civet[90]
• Moco[91]
• Mohol galago[81]
• Moor macaque[13]
• Moose[92]
• Mountain goat[30]
• Mountain tree shrew[53]
• Mountain zebra[93]
• Mouse (domestic)[94]
• Moustached tamarin[54]
• Mule deer[29]
• Musk-ox[95]
• Natterer's bat[41]
• New Zealand sea lion[28]
• Nilgiri langur[70]
• Noctule[51]
• North American porcupine[96]
• Northern elephant seal[28]
• Northern fur seal[28]
• Northern quoll[60]
• Olympic marmot[97]
• Orangutan[98][99]
• Pacific striped dolphin[19]
• Patas monkey[100]
• Pere David's deer[29]
• Pig (domestic)[101]
• Pig-tailed macaque[13]
• Plains zebra[102]
• Polar bear[32]
• Pretty-faced wallaby[23]
• Proboscis monkey[65]
• Pronghorn[103]
• Przewalski's horse[93]
• Pudú[47]
• Puku[104]
• Quokka[105]
• Rabbit[106]
• Raccoon[52]
• Raccoon dog[107]
• Red deer[29]
• Red fox[108]
• Red kangaroo[23]
• Red-necked wallaby[23]
• Red squirrel[68]
• Reeves's muntjac[75]
• Reindeer[43]
• Rhesus macaque[13]
• Right whale[19]
• Rock cavy[39]
• Rodrigues fruit bat[41]
• Roe deer[29]
• Rufous bettong[109]
• Rufous-naped tamarin[54]
• Rufous rat kangaroo[23]
• Saddle-back tamarin[54]
• Savanna baboon[63]
• Sea otter[110]
• Serotine bat[41]
• Sheep (domestic)[30][111]
• Siamang[112]
• Sika deer[29]
• Slender tree shrew[53]
• Snub-nosed monkey[113]
• Sooty mangabey[100]
• Sperm whale[19]
• Spider monkey[114]
• Spinifex hopping mouse[42]
• Spinner dolphin[19]
• Spotted hyena[15][18]
• Spotted seal[28]
• Squirrel monkey[115]
• Striped dolphin[19]
• Stuart's marsupial mouse[116]
• Sika deer[117]
• Stumptail macaque[13]
• Swamp deer[29]
• Swamp wallaby[23]
• Takhi[93]
• Talapoin[100]
• Tammar wallaby[23]
• Tasmanian devil[116]
• Tibetan macaque[118]
• Tasmanian rat kangaroo[23]
• Thinhorn sheep[30]
• Thomson's gazelle[25]
• Tiger[119]
• Tonkean macaque[13]
• Tucuxi[120]
• Urial[121]
• Vampire bat[41]
• Verreaux's sifaka[122]
• Vervet[100]
• Vicuna[123]
• Walrus[124][125]
• Wapiti[126]
• Warthog[127]
• Waterbuck[128]
• Water buffalo[30]
• Weeper capuchin[40]
• Western grey kangaroo[23]
• West Indian manatee[129]
• Whiptail wallaby[23]
• White-faced capuchin[40]
• White-fronted capuchin[40]
• White-handed gibbon[130]
• White-lipped peccary[131]
• White-tailed deer[29]
• Wild cavy[39]
• Wild goat[30]
• Wisent[21]
• Yellow-bellied marmot[117]
• Yellow-footed rock wallaby[23]
• Yellow-toothed cavy[39]

See also

• Homosexual behavior in animals#Mammals
• Animal sexual behavior#Mammals
• List of birds displaying homosexual behavior

References

1. Kick (2001)
2. Imaginova (2007f)
3. Bagemihl (1999)
4. News-medical.net (2006)
5. Bagemihl (1999) page 213
6. Harrold (1999)
7. Solimeo (2004)
8. Solimeo (2004b)
9. Bagemihl (1999) pages 122-166
10. Roughgarden (2004) pp.13-183
11. Vasey (1995) pages 173-204
12. Sommer & Vasey (2006)
13. Bagemihl (1999) page 316
14. Imaginova (2007e)
15. Forger (6 December 1998), Volume 375, Issue 2, Pages 333 – 343
16. Forger (1998)
17. Holekamp (2003)
18. Wilson (Sexing the Hyena)
19. Bagemihl (1999) page 339
20. Imaginova (2007h)
21. Bagemihl (1999) page 413
22. Bagemihl (1999) page 427
23. Bagemihl (1999) page 449
24. Imaginova (2007b)
25. Bagemihl (1999) page 391
26. Bagemihl (1999) page 432
27. Bagemihl (1999) pages 405, 690
28. Bagemihl (1999) page 367
29. Bagemihl (1999) page 378
30. Bagemihl (1999) page 405
31. Bagemihl (1999) pages 209, 408, 690
32. Bagemihl (1999) page 441
33. Bagemihl (1999) page 402
34. Norimasa Sugita (2016). "Homosexual Fellatio: Erect Penis Licking between Male Bonin Flying Foxes Pteropus pselaphon". PLoS One. 11 (11): e0166024. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0166024. PMC 5100941. PMID 27824953.
35. de Waal (2001)
36. Liggett (1997–2006)
37. Imaginova (2007j)
38. Imaginova (2007c)
39. Bagemihl (1999) page 467
40. Bagemihl (1999) page 334
41. Bagemihl (1999) page 473
42. Bagemihl (1999) page 469
43. Bagemihl (1999) pages 388,389
44. Bagemihl (1999) pages 81, 88
45. Bagemihl (1999) pages 81, 82, 89
46. Poiani (2010) page 52
47. Poiani (2010) page 51
48. Bagemihl (1999) pages 422–425
49. Bagemihl (1999) page 457
50. Bagemihl (1999) pages 276–279
51. Bagemihl (1999) page 475
52. Bagemihl (1999) page 448
53. Bagemihl (1999) page 471
54. Bagemihl (1999) page 333
55. Bagemihl (1999) pages 310, 314
56. Poiani (2010) page 170
57. Bagemihl (1999) page 376
58. Bagemihl (1999) pages 447–448
59. Thierry Lodé La guerre des sexes chez les animaux Eds O Jacob, Paris, 2006.ISBN 2-7381-1901-8
60. Bagemihl (1999) pages 458–460
61. Bagemihl (1999) pages 218, 231, 317
62. Chengming Huang; et al. (2015). "Non-conceptive sexual behavior and its function in an unusually composed group of Francois langurs (Trachypithecus francoisi) in Guangxi, China" (PDF). Vietnamese Journal of Primatology. 2 (3): 29–38.
63. Bagemihl (1999) pages 324–330
64. Imaginova (2007d)
65. Bagemihl (1999) pages 299–301
66. Bagemihl (1999) pages 280–284
67. Juichi Yamagiwa (1987). "Intra- and inter-group interactions of an all-male group of virunga mountain gorillas (Gorilla gorilla beringei)". Primates. 28 (1): 1–30. doi:10.1007/BF02382180.
68. Bagemihl (1999) pages 461–464
69. Bagemihl (1999) pages 231, 436–440
70. Bagemihl (1999) pages 293–298
71. Bagemihl (1999) page 347
72. Bagemihl (1999) page 412
73. Bagemihl (1999) page 465-466
74. Bagemihl (1999) pages 81, 165, 205, 226, 231
75. Bagemihl (1999) page 386
76. Bagemihl (1999) page 430
77. Bagemihl (1999) page 422-425
78. Feige, Stacey, et al. "Heterosexual and homosexual behaviour and vocalisations in captive female koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus)." Applied Animal Behaviour Science 103.1-2 (2007): 131-145.
79. Bagemihl (1999) page 455-457
80. Bagemihl (1999) page 397-401
81. Bagemihl (1999) page 336-338
82. Bagemihl (1999) pages 302–305.
83. Cooper
84. Eaton (1974)
85. Schaller, (1972)
86. Srivastav (2001)
87. Bagemihl (1999) pages 470–472
88. Imaginova (2007)
89. Bagemihl (1999) page 409
90. Jia, Z. Y., et al. "Effects of number of homosexual partners on copulating date in female captive masked palm civets (Paguma larvata), and fluctuation of urine estrogen during breeding season." Acta Zoologica Sinica 48 (2002): 610-616.
91. Bagemihl (1999) pages 109, 469
92. Bagemihl (1999) pages 387–390
93. Bagemihl (1999) pages 418–421
94. Bagemihl (1999) pages 663, 693, 714
95. Bagemihl (1999) pages 410–413
96. Bagemihl (1999) page 472
97. Bagemihl (1999) pages 465–466
98. Bagemihl (1999) pages 284–288
99. EA Fox (2001). "Homosexual behavior in wild Sumatran orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus abelii)". Am J Primatol. 55 (3): 177–81. doi:10.1002/ajp.1051. PMID 11746281.
100. Bagemihl (1999) page 328
101. Bagemihl (1999) pages 81, 82, 225–226, 232–240
102. Bagemihl (1999) page 418-421
103. Bagemihl (1999) pages 394–396
104. Bagemihl (1999) pages 397–401
105. Bagemihl (1999) page 451
106. Bagemihl (1999) page 81
107. Bagemihl (1999) page 440
108. Bagemihl (1999) pages 437–441
109. Bagemihl (1999) pages 453–455
110. Bagemihl (1999) pages 364–365
111. Roselli (2004), Vol. 145, No. 2, pages 478–483
112. Bagemihl (1999) pages 289–292
113. Pengzhen Huang; Xin He; Endi Zhang; Min Chen (2017). "Do same-sex mounts function as dominance assertion in male golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana)?". Am J Primatol. 79 (5): e22636. doi:10.1002/ajp.22636. PMID 28103402.
114. Laura Busia; et al. (2018). "Homosexual Behavior Between Male Spider Monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi)" (PDF). Arch Sex Behav. 47 (4): 857–861. doi:10.1007/s10508-018-1177-8. PMID 29536259.
115. Bagemihl (1999) pages 330–335
116. Bagemihl (1999) page 459
117. Poiani (2010) page 50
118. Jiang, T., Li, J., Sheeran, L. K., Zhu, Y., Sun, B., Xia, D., & Wang, X. (2013). "Homosexual mounting in wild male Tibetan Macaques (Macaca thibetana) at Huangshan, China" (PDF). Life Science Journal. 10 (1).CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
119. Sommer (2006)
120. Bagemihl (1999) page 340
121. Bagemihl (1999) pages 405–409
122. Bagemihl (1999) pages 366–368
123. Bagemihl (1999) pages 425–426
124. Bagemihl (1999) pages 370–374
125. Imaginova (2007g)
126. Bagemihl (1999) page 231
127. Bagemihl (1999) page 421
128. Bagemihl (1999) pages 397–400
129. Bagemihl (1999) pages 374–377
130. Bagemihl (1999) pages 288–290
131. Bagemihl (1999) page 424

See also

• Against Nature?, an exhibit at the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum that took place until 19 August 2007.
• Anthropomorphism
• Behavioral ecology is the study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior
• Biodiversity
• Bioethics
• Biology and sexual orientation
• Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a branch of zoology; cognitive ethology fuses cognitive science and classical ethology to observe animals under more-or-less natural conditions
• Evolutionary biology
• Homosexual behavior in animals § Birds
• Innate bisexuality
• Sexual selection

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