Part of a series based on Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl. Manatee’s are large seal-like marine mammals, up to 2.5-4m (8-14 ft) long. This species lives in coastal areas and rivers of the southeastern United States, the Caribbean, and northeastern Brazil. Manatees are generally solitary and barely social at all. Occasionally they form small groups of two to six individuals; these groups may be mixed or consist entirely of younger males.
Having no society as such doesn’t stop male Manatees from cruising for other males. Most male Manatees are probably bisexual, since their homosexuality is usually either interspersed with heterosexual encounters, or it develops out of ménages à trois (or quatre, or more) involving a female and several males. In other words, male Manatees sometimes compete against each other for female attention but then go off with their male rival instead. A good twist there for soap opera script writers, although I daresay it’s been done already on some show or other.
West Indian Manatee (Trichelus manatus)
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