The Supreme Court of the United States has finally made marriage equality legal in all 50 states. Marriage is no longer limited to only heterosexual couples in the country. It is indeed a wonderful thing to be alive to see this progress in society. Althought, society still has it's faults of course.
To many people anything but a heterosexual relationship, that between one man and one woman, is the only natural relationship. Arguments range from it being "sinful" to "unnatural" to "gay people can't reproduce". In this article I will discuss several forms of human sexualities/lifestyles that also exist in other areas of the animal kingdom, and not only amongst us humans.
You could argue that this evidence indeed proves that however consenting adults are born to love, they were born that way naturally. I did all the research on my own using good ol' Google, and encourage anyone who is interested in the topic to do the same.
Homosexuality
What is it? Homosexuality is when someone of the same gender, no matter the gender, is romantically and sexually attracted to someone of the same gender.
What other species display Homosexuality?
Several Dragonfly species have been observed displaying male Homosexual behavior. In a survey of male and female dragonflies, damage to the cloacal pincher indicated that 20-80% of male dragonflies were coupling up, together, with other male dragonflies.
On the lady front, we have an all female species of Whiptail Lizards that procreate by simulating the mating behavior that would be seen between a male and female lizard. One lady lizard lies ontop of the other posing as the male, and the lady lizard on the bottom will produce larger eggs.
Other species that have been observed displaying Homosexual behaviour
Caribou, Chimpanzees, Lions, Orcas, Ravens, Seagulls, and Salmon.
Pansexuality
What is Pansexuality? Pansexuality is any sort of attraction to another person regardless of gender or sexuality. Pansexuality differs from Bisexuality because those who are pansexual don't recognize a necessity for someone to align with one gender or sexuality, allowing for total fluidity and a type of "gender blindness".
What other species displays Pansexual behaviour?
Well, it happens to be the intelligent and always interesting Dolphin. Dolphins share a lot of similarities with humans, some of them not pretty (such as rape and murder), but that's not what this article is about! This is a positive article. And Dolphins fit the bill for pansexuality.
Our brother fish not only have sex for fun like we do, but they also do it with other dolphins regardless of gender. They sometimes try and get a bit frisky with humans! And in one instance.....a dolphin tried to mount a sailboat. Dolphins are sexual creatures just like we are, and they don't fit into the pretty little box of Heterosexuality like some people believe humans are meant to.
Stick it to 'em Flipper!
Asexuality
What is Asexuality?
Asexuality is when someone isn't sexually attracted to anyone, or doesn't neccessarily need sexual attraction. These people can love like anyone else, they are just not sexual in the same sense as other people.
What other species display Asexual behavior?
This example will be a little different than the others for the fact that we can't actually ask an animal if they are sexually attracted to another animal. Maybe we should have Harry Potter ask the female boa constrictor I am going to use as my example?
There are plenty of species that reproduce via asexual means. Meaning they don't need an animal of the opposite sex in order to make babies, this is called parthenogenesis. It's been seen in types of Stick Bugs for a million years, Hammerhead Sharks in captivity, and the 9 banded Armadillo. But the case with our lady snake is different.
In 2010 a female Boa Constrictor reproduced on her own, even though she had done so with males in the past and even had the chance to do it with male Boas during this time as well. Apparently Miss Boa didn't need no man, and she produced offspring asexually, and that's not the only interesting part. Reptiles use the ZW chromosome system, males produced with the ZZ chromosome, and females with the ZW or WW chromosome. It was thought that a ZW reptile could not produce WW offspring on their own. But Miss Boa proved them wrong in 2010, when the ZW reptile birthed asexually 22 female WW babies!!!
Polyamory (not to be confused with Polygamy)
What is Polyamory?
Polyamory is when an individual is capable of having sexual and/or romantic relationships with more than one individual. Someone who is Poly can feel romantic love for multiple partners. Or they could just simply desire having multiple sexual partners instead of just one. It's a lifestyle that holds communication and trust to a very high degree. Especially if only one person in a partnership is poly (yes this is possible).
What other species display Polyamorous behaviour?
In a 3-year study in Canada, reasearchers from the University of Alberta Canada and the University of Sheffield England discovered that the female red squirrel has polyamorous mating habits.
The female North American Red Squirrel can mate with 6-14 male squirrels in a single day!!! This is something that is not commonly seen in the animal kingdom. But alas, it exists!!! Not only do the foxy Red Squirrels mate with as many males as they want to, but they also emmit a scent that sends the males on a hour long mating chase. For all intents and purposes, there's always plenty of willing males read to follow this vixen of the trees.
I guess you can say the Red Squirrels milkshake brings all the boys...err, squirrels to the yard.
Polygamy
What is Polygamy?
Polygamy is easiest explained by a man having multiple wives, or a woman having multiple husbands. It differers from Polyamory because Polyamory can be a man and woman both having multiple partners of different sexes and sexualities. A Polygamous relationship is a group relationship with one member of one sex having multiple partners of the opposite sex.
What other species display Polygamous behaviour?
Polygyny is the male form of Polygamy and is observed in close to 90% of mammals species. This is when the male animal mates with multiple females, while the females only mate exclusively with that one male. Our best example of this would obviously be a Pride of Lions. For the sake of entertainment I'll explain it this way. Mufasa is the dominant male of the Pride. All of the lionesses mate with him, and only him. All the lionesses. So yes, scientifically, Simba and Nala would have been half-siblings.
Polyandry is the female form of Polygamy, with the female animal having multiple male mates. The Bronze-winged Jacana is a type of tropical bird where the female leaves the incubating and raising of offspring to her own harem of male birds. These sly girls don't stop there though. Sometimes they will even invade another female Jacana's territory, killing a set of chicks and essentially stealing that father bird to now be HER new poppa bird, if he falls for her charms of course.
As a bonus, I will include the Hyena. Hyena's live in groups that are run by females, but it's the males that mate with multiple females. So Hyena's are a little out of the box. But, this doesn't take away the female Hyena's that are in the groups dominance away, only she chooses who has access to her girly parts when it comes time to mate.
Monogamy
What is Monogamy?
I'm sure we all know what Monogamy is, but just in case- Monogamy is when two partners remain faithful sexually and romantically to only each other. Usually, till death do them part (or they split up, ect.)
What other species display Monogamous behaviour?
There's actually quite a few, even though not all of them are perfect. But niether are we. For example, Gibbons (a type of monkey) are monogamous, but cheating, breakups, and even "remarrying" occur. Sound familiar?
But for this example I would like to use the Wolf. Gray Wolves live in the wild live in packs that include the parent wolves (the alpha male and female) and usually their offspring from previous years. Wolves in captivity display the same pack and heirarchy behavior, but to a more detailed degree, but that's another topic. The parent wolves, the Alpha male and female, mate for life. Once they become partners they mate season after season, for the most part until one of them dies.
Other species that display Monogamous behaviour
Beavers, Seahorses, Bald Eagles, Swans, and more.
So as you can plainly see, human beings are not the only animals, or even mammals, that display more than one type of sexual behavior. We are all part of the animal kingdom. We are all natural lovers. All beautiful. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. We got your back!!! Now go off you animals, and have some "sinful" fun!!
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