Pride Month is For Wildlife, Too

June is LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, and I keep thinking about a presentation I saw last year at the annual Animal Behavior Society meeting. Dr. Marlene Zuk, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Minnesota and former president of the Animal Behavior Society, discussed the errors of the common belief that same-sex behavior in nonhuman animals is a mistake. Researchers tend to assume that observations of same-sex behavior are cases of mistaken identity while attempting to mate, but Dr. Zuk and her colleague Dr. Jon Richardson believe we should be giving the animals more credit. Dr. Zuk explained that animals have mating filters to discern appropriate targets for mating behavior. A broader filter might mean selecting more inappropriate targets, but it also means true opportunities to mate aren't missed. She likened the mating filter to a smoke detector: it's better to have it go off when there's no fire than for it not to alert you when there is one. In fact, Dr. Zuk and Dr. Richardson found that male crickets who are in poorer body condition narrow their mating filters (i.e., reserve mating behavior for appropriate targets) to avoid expending energy unnecessarily, indicating that there is intentionality and nuance to same-sex behavior. Importantly, this also shows that having a broad mating filter provides more opportunities to reproduce.

(I want to note that this doesn't mean all same-sex behavior in the animal world is aimed at broadening mating filters or devoid of emotion).

There are actually a lot of examples of queerness in wildlife, showing unequivocally that queerness is natural and, in many cases, evolutionarily advantageous. Let's talk about them.

Bonobos

Bonobos are essentially chimpanzees that had more access to resources. Both species diverged from a common ancestor with humans about 8 million years ago, and they split from each other about 2 million years ago. Bonobos and chimps are geographically separated by the Congo River. Bonobos inhabit the Congo River Basin to the south in the Democratic Republic of Congo, while chimps are spread out north and west of the river in equatorial Africa. Primatologists theorize that Bonobos had more access to food and water by virtue of remaining close to the river, and therefore evolved a more peaceful society. Bonobos are non-monogomous, and sex plays a major role in their socialization. Sex can be used as a form of greeting, conflict resolution, and bonding, regardless of gender or age.

Clownfish

Clownfish are one of many species of fish that can change their gender. Many fish change from male to female or vice versa when they reach a certain size, and the change almost always corresponds with greater reproductive fitness. Clownfish are all born male, and the change to female is based on dominance. Each clownfish social group has a dominant female, and if something happens to her, one of the males will turn female and lead the group. Would it have been more accurate if Nemo's dad was actually female?

Laysan Albatrosses

I recently watched the episode of "Hacks" where Deborah and Ava end up on a lesbian cruise. This scene comes to mind when I think of the Laysan albatrosses of Oahu. Oahu has an abundance of female Laysan albatrosses, which means some females won't end up with a male mate. Instead of going solo, the unpaired females will copulate with males and then pair up with other females to incubate their eggs. As many as 1/3 of Laysan albatross pairs are female-female, and while they don't have quite the reproductive success that male-female pairs do, they have more success than if they stayed single. We love a two-mom household!

Female Albatross Pair Click Clack with their chick Pip, Louise Barnfield, Copyrighted, All Rights Reserved - Used by Permission, https://www.fws.gov/media/female-albatross-pair-click-clack-their-chick-pip

Jack-In-The-Pulpit

Even plants can be queer! Most flowering plants like the hibiscus pictured to the right are hermaphroditic and bisexual. They have both a stamen (male reproductive organ) and a pistil (female reproductive organ), allowing them to procreate with male and female parts of other plants. This allows for more successful reproduction with greater diversity, both of which are positive metrics for species survival.

The Jack-In-The-Pulpit is a perennial herb native to eastern North America, and it has the ability to switch gender from year to year. A number of factors influence individuals to switch from male to female or vice versa, but scientists believe there is an evolutionary advantage to the switch, related to the energy required to reproduce.

This isn't the only gender fluid queen in the plant world: some species of maple tree, honeylocust, blackgum, and gingkos can change from male to female under the right conditions. Those conditions usually have to do with survival, once again showing an evolutionary advantage to switching.

To be clear, I fully believe that we shouldn't need to provide examples from nature to validate queer peoples' existence. In fact, queer people, just like all of us, ARE nature. But I think it's important to show the world that queerness is all around and, in fact, is not something unusual, weird, or wrong. Human diversity is as important as biodiversity - without it we will have an awfully hard time surviving.