Gina Miller <nanogirl@halcyon.com> wrote on Thursday, December 02, 1999 2:19 pm,
> Higher than a cat? There have been studies which I read about in a book by
> Colin Wilson, that states in a remarkable way, that homosexuality was rare
> or nonexistent in primitive tribes, and seems to have figured in the
history
> of Western civilization ever since men began to live in big cities.
Homosexuality occurs in a certain percentage of rats, dogs, pigs, monkeys, dolphins, goats, sheep, and lots of other species. Some monkeys who have been taught sign language have engaged in homosexuality, prostitution (negotiating food for sex), and lying about sexual behavior and eating behavior.
I have seen the studies that show homosexuality increases in overpopulated and/or stressful conditions. This is definitely true. It may have something to do with aggression, which also increases under these conditions. It does seem clear that individual animals do not change their orientation under such conditions. It seems to be that offspring born under such conditions are more likely to be gay. It may be some form of population control.
Such a control would make a lot of sense to keep overpopulation from killing off the whole pack. It would be an advantage to have a pack maintain a certain low percentage of gay rats, and to have that percentage increase during overpopulation and decrease during underpopulation.
-- Harvey Newstrom <mailto://newstrom@newstaffinc.com> <http://harveynewstrom.com> Author, Consultant, Engineer, Legal Hacker, Researcher, Scientist.