Bruce Bagemihl - Biological Exuberance

Nevertheless, by looking at one particular aspect of animal behavior, we have actually stumbled upon something much larger—a new way of seeing the world, of perceiving broader patterns in nature and human society. Animal homosexuality and transgender may appear far removed from our everyday lives, but through these phenomena, we also arrive at an understanding and appreciation of some of the simplest, most ordinary things around us. Biological Exuberance is available , if it is nothing else—at our fingertips, everywhere we turn, in the fibers and textures that surround us, in the spices that fill our nostrils as we walk past the corner store, in the cloud formations above us and the dandelion seeds strewn by the wind about us, in the embrace of a friend and the kiss of a beloved—in all the colors and patterns and sensations that fill our lives. How many of us haven’t, at one time or another, been overcome by this variety, this feeling of what poet Louis MacNeice describes as “the drunkenness of things being various,” the world as “incorrigibly plural”? 144Biological Exuberance simply takes our intuitive understanding of the diversity of life and makes it the essence of existence. We needn’t be living in material wealth or in an isolated wilderness to experience this lavishness, either. The weeds struggling through a sidewalk crack or choking an abandoned urban plot are every bit as sumptuous as the most refined of rose gardens, the most magnificent of mountain forests—if not more so. Gifted with this heightened understanding, we can now find the intoxication contained in a glass of water, where before even the most sophisticated wine seemed flavorless (to paraphrase Hakim Bey). 145

Ultimately, the synthesis of scientific views represented by Biological Exuberance brings us full circle—back to a way of looking at the world that is in accordance with some of the most ancient indigenous conceptions of animal (and human) sexual and gender variability. This perspective dissolves binary oppositions, uniting dualities while simultaneously cherishing unlikeness. It suffers difference, honoring the “anomalous” and the “irregular” without reducing them to something familiar or “manageable.” And it embraces paradox, recognizing the coexistence of contradictory and seemingly incompatible phenomena. It is about the unspeakable inexplicability of earth’s mysteries—which are as immediate as the next heartbeat. Biological Exuberance is, above all, an affirmation of life’s vitality and infinite possibilities: a worldview that is at once primordial and futuristic, in which gender is kaleidoscopic, sexualities are multiple, and the categories of male and female are fluid and transmutable. A world, in short, exactly like the one we inhabit.

“AWondrous Bestiary” presents a species-by-species survey of sexual and gender variance in animals. Included are profiles of mammals and birds in which at least some individuals are homosexual, bisexual, and/or transgendered. Only species in which same-sex activities have been scientifically documented are included here; for species excluded from this roster, see p. 673: chapter 1, note 29; for more on the (sometimes controversial) interpretations and categorizations of these behaviors, see chapters 3–5. Because each portrait is self-contained, it can be read either on its own, in sequence as part of a subgrouping of related animals, in conjunction with material in part 1, or browsed at random, according to the particular interests of the reader (the index may be used to investigate particular topics). Each portrait contains the following types of information, arranged sequentially:

Heading :basic identifying information for each profile, including:

• Name: common and scientific names of the species, the animal subgrouping, and an icon identifying the major animal type (e.g., primate, marine mammal, etc.).

• Category: indicates whether the animal in question exhibits male and/or female homosexuality; the major type of transgender if present (transvestism and/or intersexuality); the types of same-sex behaviors involved; and whether homosexuality/transgender has been observed in the wild, semiwild, and/or captivity (for discussion of these distinctions, see chapters 1 and 4).

• Ranking: an informal categorization of each animal in terms of the importance of homosexuality and/or transgender in the species, based on the variety and elaboration of behaviors, the frequency of same-sex activity, and the sexual orientation profiles for the species; categories are “primary,” “moderate,” and “incidental.”

• Portrait Drawing: a line drawing identifying one or more of the profiled species.

Ecology : background information about the animal and its environment:

• Identification: a brief physical description of the animal.

• Distribution: the animal’s geographic range, and an indication of the species’ endangered status if threatened in the wild (World Conservation Union-designated categories of “critically endangered,” “endangered,” or “vulnerable”; see pp. 708-9: chapter 5, note 17, for some discussion of these designations).

• Habitat: a description of the animal’s physical environment.

• Study Area(s): specific location(s) and subspecies where homosexuality has been observed and/or studied.

Social Organization: background information about the general social and mating system(s) of the animal, providing a behavioral context for understanding homosexuality/transgender in the species.

Description: detailed information about the particular form(s) of homosexuality and/or transgender found in this animal, including:

• Behavioral Expression: the type(s) of behaviors involved, with discussion of courtship, affectionate, sexual, pair-bonding, and/or parenting activities; and the form(s) of transgender, if any (behavioral or physical transvestism, intersexuality, etc.).

• Frequency: detailed statistics (where available) or estimates of how often homosexual activity occurs, specified as the proportion of all sexual (or other) activity that is same-sex, and/or frequency rates, time/activity budgets, or other measures.

• Orientation: what proportion of the population participates in same-sex activity, where individuals fall along the continuum from homosexual through bisexual to heterosexual, and how this is manifested during individual life histories.

• Illustrations: photographs and line drawings of specific activities.

Nonreproductive and Alternative Heterosexualities: summaries of various heterosexual activities that do not lead to reproduction (or that actively suppress it), along with family and pair-bonding configurations that deviate from the species-typical pattern or that are otherwise noteworthy.