Bruce Bagemihl writes that Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity was a "labor of love." And indeed it must have been, since most scientists have thus far studiously avoided the topic of widespread homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom--sometimes in the face of undeniable evidence. Bagemihl begins with an overview of same-sex activity in animals, carefully defining courtship patterns, affectionate behaviors, sexual techniques, mating and pair-bonding, and same-sex parenting. He firmly dispels the prevailing notion that homosexuality is uniquely human and only occurs in "unnatural" circumstances. As far as the nature-versus-nurture argument--it's obviously both, he concludes. An overview of biologists' discomfort with their own observations of animal homosexuality over 200 years would be truly hilarious if it didn't reflect a tendency of humans (and only humans) to respond with aggression and hostility to same-sex behavior in our own species. In fact, Bagemihl reports, scientists have sometimes been afraid to report their observations for fear of recrimination from a hidebound (and homophobic) academia. Scientists' use of anthropomorphizing vocabulary such as insulting, unfortunate, and inappropriate to describe same-sex matings shows a decided lack of objectivity on the part of naturalists.
Astounding as it sounds, a number of scientists have actually argued that when a female Bonobo wraps her legs around another female ... while emitting screams of enjoyment, this is actually "greeting" behavior, or "appeasement" behavior ... almost anything, it seems, besides pleasurable sexual behavior.
Throw this book into the middle of a crowd of wildlife biologists and watch them scatter. But Bagemihl doesn't let the scientific community's discomfort deny him the opportunity to show "the love that dare not bark its name" in all its feathery, furry, toothy diversity. The second half of this hefty tome is filled with an exhaustive array of species that exhibit homosexuality, complete with photos and detailed scientific illustrations of the behaviors described. Biological Exuberance is a well-researched, thoroughly scientific, and erudite look at a purposefully neglected frontier of zoology. --Therese Littleton --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
A brilliant and important exercise in exposing the limitations of received opinion, this book presents to the lay reader and specialist alike an exhaustively argued case that animals have multiple shades of sexual orientation. The book is broken into two sections, the second containing species "portraits" detailing recorded homosexual/transgendered behaviors. The main portion of the book sets out to reveal and, indeed, revel in the documented evidence to date that some 450 species engage in both sustained and occasional "gay," "lesbian" and transgendered pairing, parenting and play. Animals (both heterosexual and homosexual) also rape and divorce, commit "child" abuse and infidelity and can be lifelong celibates. Human claims to uniqueness in this arena are shown to be increasingly difficult to maintain. The overall effect is to detonate the myth that animals are solely driven by heterosexual reproductive urges, as Bagemihl, a biologist, amasses evidence with case study after case study of species ranging from whiptail lizards to bottlenose dolphins, flamingoes, vampire bats and giraffes. But his book offers more than a zoological laundry list. Biologists who have long classified these behaviors as taking place only in "abnormal" conditions or as "pseudo-copulation," "mistakes," "practicing" and domineering sexual bullying are frequently shown to be willfully ignoring behavior that does not reflect their own worldview or accepted scientific thought. What might so easily have turned into a tub-thumping activist tract hitched to the need for acceptance of homosexuality among humans is instead elevated to a hugely inclusive, celebratory biological interpretation of the world. Bagemihl convincingly overturns previous inviolable "truths" that scarcity and functionality are the prime agents of biological change, and advances instead the idea that abundance and extravagance?"biological exuberance"?are just as crucial to the mosaic of life. Numerous illustrations by John Megahan.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
A scholarly, exhaustive, and utterly convincing refutation of the notion that human homosexuality is an aberration in nature. Biologist Bagemihl, who formerly taught cognitive science at the
Review
"A scholarly, exhaustive, and utterly convincing refutation of the notion that human homosexuality is an aberration in nature . . . Bagemihl does realize that some among us will never be convinced that homosexuality occurs freely and frequently in nature. But his meticulously gathered, cogently delivered evidence will quash any arguments to the contrary."—Kirkus Reviews
"A brilliant and important exercise in exposing the limitations of received opinion . . . an exhaustively argued case that animals have multiple shades of sexual orientation."—Publishers Weekly
"Bagemihl has done an extraordinary job in compiling a vast bestiary . . . This book should surely become the standard reference work for research on the topics covered."—Nature
"A landmark in the literature of science."—
"By producing a work that is accessible to the general reader while engaging for the specialist, Bagemihl has accomplished a most extraordinary feat. In the tradition of the finest nonfiction, this is a book that will force us to reexamine who we are and what we believe."—The
"For anyone who has ever doubted the 'naturalness' of homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered behaviors, this remarkable book, which demonstrates and celebrates the sexual diversity of life on earth, will surely lay those doubts to rest. The massive evidence of the wondrous complexity of sexuality in the natural world that Bagemihl has marshaled will inform, entertain, and persuade academic and lay readers alike. Biological Exuberance is a revolutionary work."—Lillian Faderman, author of Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America
Review
"A scholarly, exhaustive, and utterly convincing refutation of the notion that human homosexuality is an aberration in nature . . . Bagemihl does realize that some among us will never be convinced that homosexuality occurs freely and frequently in nature. But his meticulously gathered, cogently delivered evidence will quash any arguments to the contrary."—Kirkus Reviews
"A brilliant and important exercise in exposing the limitations of received opinion . . . an exhaustively argued case that animals have multiple shades of sexual orientation."—Publishers Weekly
"Bagemihl has done an extraordinary job in compiling a vast bestiary . . . This book should surely become the standard reference work for research on the topics covered."—Nature
"A landmark in the literature of science."—
"By producing a work that is accessible to the general reader while engaging for the specialist, Bagemihl has accomplished a most extraordinary feat. In the tradition of the finest nonfiction, this is a book that will force us to reexamine who we are and what we believe."—The
"For anyone who has ever doubted the 'naturalness' of homosexual, bisexual, and transgendered behaviors, this remarkable book, which demonstrates and celebrates the sexual diversity of life on earth, will surely lay those doubts to rest. The massive evidence of the wondrous complexity of sexuality in the natural world that Bagemihl has marshaled will inform, entertain, and persuade academic and lay readers alike. Biological Exuberance is a revolutionary work."—Lillian Faderman, author of Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America
Book Description
A Publishers Weekly Best BookOne of the New York Public Library's "25 Books to Remember" for 1999Homosexuality in its myriad forms has been scientifically documented in more than 450 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and other animals worldwide. Biological Exuberance is the first comprehensive account of the subject, bringing together accurate, accessible, and nonsensationalized information. Drawing upon a rich body of zoological research spanning more than two centuries, Bruce Bagemihl shows that animals engage in all types of nonreproductive sexual behavior. Sexual and gender expression in the animal world displays exuberant variety, including same-sex courtship, pair-bonding, sex, and co-parenting-even instances of lifelong homosexual bonding in species that do not have lifelong heterosexual bonding.Part 1, "A Polysexual, Polygendered World," begins with a survey of homosexuality, transgender, and nonreproductive heterosexuality in animals and then delves into the broader implications of these findings, including a valuable perspective on human diversity. Bagemihl also examines the hidden assumptions behind the way biologists look at natural systems and suggests a fresh perspective based on the synthesis of contemporary scientific insights with traditional knowledge from indigenous cultures.Part 2, "A Wondrous Bestiary," profiles more than 190 species in which scientific observers have noted homosexual or transgender behavior. Each profile is a verbal and visual "snapshot" of one or more closely related bird or mammal species, containing all the documentation required to support the author's often controversial conclusions.Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, filled with fascinating facts and astonishing descriptions of animal behavior, Biological Exuberance is a landmark book that will change forever how we look at nature.
From the Publisher
"Bagemihl has done an extraordinary job in compiling a vast bestiary....This book should surely become the standard reference work for research on the topics covered." -Nature
"By producing a work that is accessible to the general reader while engaging for the specialist, Bagemihl has accomplished a most extraordinary feat. In the tradition of the finest nonfiction, this is a book that will force us to reexamine who we are and what we believe." -The
"A monumental and captivating work...Biological Exuberance affirms life in all its richness, abundance, and complexity." -DEB PRICE,
"Thrillingly dense with new ideas and with scandalous animal anecdotes. In other words, an ideal bedside read." -Salon
"A landmark in the literature of science." -
About the Author
Bruce Bagemihl, Ph.D., is a biologist and researcher who has served on the faculty of the
Selected Readers' Reviews
70 of 77 people found the following review helpful:
Fascinating account of animal homosexuality,
| Reviewer: | Duane T. Williams ( |
The first part of the book is an independent 262 page exposition of homosexual, bisexual and transgendered animal sexuality. If you want to know what the birds and the bees are doing when Jerry Falwell isn't looking, this is the place to find out. Don't expect to find traditional family values in these pages. What you will discover instead is that animals aren't doing it for
More interesting to me, though, is the speculation on the sexual origins of language and culture in chapter 2 and the devastating examination in chapter 3 of bigotry in the biological sciences in over two hundred years of observations of animal homosexuality. Bagemihl shows, for example, that in science as in society, there's a presumption of heterosexuality. Field researchers have commonly assumed, with no independent verification, that whenever they see a pair of animals engaging in what appears to be sexual behavior they are observing a male-female pair. Conversely, whenever they observe a known same-sex pair engaging in behavior that would be classified as sexual between a male and female, they classify it in some other way. This protocol largely precludes the gathering of data about animal homosexuality even when it's being observed. In some cases, though, it resulted in published studies being repudiated as much as 20 years later when it was discovered that what was presumed to be heterosexual behavior in a population was really entirely homosexual. (It's an interesting fact that in some species heterosexuality has never been observed by scientists even when they go to great lengths to observe it over periods of many years.) Also, a lot of animal homosexuality that has been recognized as such has simply been excluded from the published reports. As a result, there is still widespread belief among scientists and the public that animal homosexuality is rare or nonexistent. People will believe otherwise after reading this book.
Chapter 4 looks at the attempts to explain away animal homosexuality and chapter 5 considers arguments on the other side that try to attach evolutionary value to homosexuality. Bagemihl rejects all the proposals on both sides, demonstrating the weakness of all the explanations and typically showing that they are plainly inconsistent with the evidence of animal behavior. Finally, he arrives at the question that the reader has been waiting for for almost 200 pages: "Why does same-sex activity persist--reappearing in species after species, generation after generation, individual after individual--when it is not 'useful'?" His answer is not to show that it is useful, but rather to treat the plain existence of homosexuality as a reductio ad absurdum argument against the biologists' assumption that only traits that contribute to reproduction will survive (i.e. are useful). In pursuing this line of thought Begemihl offers interesting descriptions of animals that are nonbreeders, animals that suppress reproduction, animals that segregate the sexes so that reproduction can't happen, animals that engage in birth control, and animals that engage in other nonreproductive behaviors. He also shows that a lot of the sex that actually occurs is not for reproduction, but apparently for pleasure. All of this he believes calls for a new conception of the natural biological world.
The last chapter describes some ideas for a new paradigm, which he calls Biological Exuberance and I must say that it is much less convincing than the rest of the book. It is interesting nonetheless. Much of the last chapter is a description of the myths about animals of native North Americans, the tribes of
So where does it end? In mystery. "Our final resting spot--the concept of Biological Exuberance--lies somewhere along the trajectory defined by these three points (chaos, biodiversity, evolution), although its exact location remains strangely imprecise." "Nothing, in the end, has really been 'explained'--and rightly so, for it was 'sensible explanations' that ran aground in the first place."
That's not a very satisfactory answer to my mind, but the book is nonetheless a source of many interesting phenomena and ideas. I enjoyed it greatly. I expect most people who read this long book will do as I have done--read part one completely and then selectively read about some particular animals in part two. The second part is an encyclopedia of the queer sexuality of approximately 300 species of mammals and birds. An appendix contains a long list of reptiles, amphibians, fishes, insects, spiders and domesticated animals in
21 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
At 800 pages, it exceeds my interest, but good,
| Reviewer: | Paul Doland ( |
As a straight person, I guess I only have so much interest in the animal homosexual behavior - and this book exceeds it. It is 800 pages and I really didn't finish all of it. But, I have some amount of interest as I at least used to hear Christians claim that homosexuality is "unnatural" which this books seems to show fairly convincingly otherwise.
I enjoyed the chapters discussing possible reasons for the existence of homosexuality. The author agrees that it doesn't serve any obvious purpose. However, he discusses a few possible theories. One theory about at least one species of bird is that male pairs do better at gathering food and protecting territory. So, a male pair, so long as at least one of the males engages in some heterosexual activity to produce an offspring, could have some evolutionary advantage. But the author admits the evidence for this or other theories is scant at best. The conclusion seems to be that much sexual behavior, in animals and people, serves no obvious purpose - it just is.
So, if you have some interest in the subject, I'm sure you'll like it. But if your interest is only moderate, it may be too much.
Biological Exuberance,
| Reviewer: | K. Freeman (Apple Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews |
A well-supported and engagingly written study of homosexual behavior in animals, particularly mammals and birds. The book discusses the behavior of individual species, ways in which behavior can be studied, the implications for evolutionary theory and for the study of corresponding behaviors in humans, the place of reproduction in the natural world, and more.
I read natural history and nature writing voraciously and had no idea that these behaviors were so prevalent, which seems like an argument in itself for Bagemihl's criticism of zoologists' ignoring them. As he points out, all mating behaviors are hard to observe (it was amazing to learn that at the time the book was written Black-Headed Grosbeaks had only once been observed mating; they are a common bird that breeds in North America). At times, it seems to me that Bagemihl's analysis overinterprets, assuming that all incidences of mounting, for example, are sexual. Still, enough of his evidence appears irreproachable to make the book a real eye-opener.
8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Animals have gay marriage!,
| Reviewer: | Todd Brennan ( |
Wow. I knew that homosexuality was biologically natural - i.e. it occurs naturally to various degrees and in various forms in numerous species including humans - but I had no idea of the extent, or of the similarity of many species to human sexuality.
If one thinks of heterosexual animals that pair bond, in some cases for life, as the animal equivalent of human heterosexual marriage, then logically, homosexual animals that pair bond, in some cases for life, are the animal equivalent of human gay marriages. Guess what? From such a perspective, animals have gay marriage!
The species' that are most similar to humans (based on the categories of courtship, affection, sexual behavior, pair-bonding, and parenting) are the Bonobo (or pygmy chimpanzee - which is the species most directly related to humans), the Orang-utan, and the Bottle Nose Dolphin.
Homosexual sexual activities among animals include mounting, anal intercourse, clitoral penetration, oral intercourse (for both males and females), mutual masturbation (including face to face GG-rubbing - genito-genital [i.e. mutual clitoral] rubbing by females), solitary masturbation, the use of tools for masturbation (equivalents of a dildo and a vibrator), penile fencing, rump-rubbing (mutual rubbing of genital and anal areas), digital genital and anal stimulation, the use of natural herbal abortion medicines, and in one species, the delay - in some cases permanent - of conception by manually stimulating the nipples (some species don't go into heat while suckling occurs, and the animals have learned to prevent themselves from going into heat by manually stimulating their nipples.) Dolphins have some tricks I'd never heard of. They have "nasal sex" - the insertion and stimulation of the penis by the blow hole; and "sonic sex" - the stimulation of the genitals using sonic pulses; as well as "beak-genital propulsion" - when the nose is inserted into the male of female genital slit, manually stimulating the genitals while propelling them along. I couldn't possibly describe all of it here.
The book also describes non-reproductive heterosexual activities, which are also quite common, if not ubiquitous. It also covers intersexuality and transvestism among animals.
Gay animals court each other (sometimes with specifically homosexual courtship rites), express affection, have all kinds of gay sex, pair-bond, and parent. Many animal species are functionally bisexual, but the same range of sexuality that occurs in humans also occurs in animals, such that even among a species that is primarily bisexual, there will be individuals who are exclusively heterosexual or homosexual.
The last half of the book ends with a breakdown of currently known species in which homosexuality occurs, and the form it takes (pair-bonding, courtship, etc.), as well as other broader info on the species.)
It's a great read, and a great resource for those who are ignorant of the existence and extent of animal homosexuality.
(Source: Amazon.com)
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