Quote:
Originally Posted by lemit
The description of dragonfly behavior is fascinating, because I've seen it hundreds of times without knowing what I was seeing.
--lemit
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One of the things I noticed in one of the pdf links was how many of these observations were in captivity or lab settings (with some lab settings seeming to be experiments to increase the chances via scent triggers or populaton triggers). There is some validity that some of these species are not easily identified (ie male/female) in the wild, so we wouldnt know if these behaviors are occurring in a natural setting.
I didnt post my findings on penguins because the post was getting too long. But we have examples of ss pairings in zoos, and it seems to be a sex ratio pairing. Some examples:
Roy and Silo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Widow a wedge between zoo's male penguin pair
The above are two examples of MM pairings which were broken up when one partner was attracted to a female (either new or recently single). Now these are both examples of captive penguins outside of their natural environment (and I dont know how close to a natural environment their captivity is). Close enough that other couples are reproducing.
But the next example bothers me. And this is why:
"Gay rights advocates were outraged when the zoo brought four new female penguins into the colony in a bid to encourage the penguins to reproduce, and the zoo later nixed the idea. (In the zoo's defense, Humboldt penguins are classified as vulnerable to extinction, so it does make a certain amount of sense to be concerned about them reproducing. And since Z and Vielpunkt have done just that, everyone wins!)"
Gay penguin dads in German zoo hatch their first chick | L.A. Unleashed | Los Angeles Times
First, if the actions of the MM coupling is not their natural choice, advocates are forcing them to stay coupled that way.
Second (and similar to above) If the penguins are homosexual, the introduction of females shouldnt change the coupling.
Third, everyone does not win. Both of the genetics of the MM partnering are being deprived of the chance of being selected for, by what appears to be needless human intervention, when the zoo personal were trying to balance the male/female sex ratio.
Now because we really cant compare animal and human behaviors absolutely, but then again, we have male prisoners forming couples in a population where they are female deprived, so are these men homosexuals? or are they homosocial (a word I picked up in a different forum). Because most male prisoners who couple up with someone while in captivity (forced sex is excluded in this concept) return to their heterosexual ways upon release (for the most part because I cant say for sure all of them do). And this doesnt need to be exclusive to male prisoners because the reality is women form lesbian couplings in prison also.
So can we really use the captive penguin example as homosexual when its obvious at least 2 of 3 couples were broken up by the introduction of a single/available female. And do we really know if the german MM couple is homosexual/ homosocial or forced by captivity to remain in this partnership?
