Songbird divorces

More from Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl. Hooded Warblers are small yellow, green and black songbirds who spend the summer in North America and winters in Mexico and Central America.

These birds take part in all manner of homosexual and alternate-heterosexual family arrangements. Heterosexual pairs rarely build nests, but when two males get together they build one together. Sometimes they raise eggs that have been parasitically laid in their nest by a Cowbird. Male pairs also adopt eggs that have been abandoned by a female Warbler, or they shack up with another male after the female leaves; up to 50% of heterosexual pairings lead to this kind of “divorce”. There are also three-way partnerships in addition to pairs, but despite this superficial monogamy (or binogamy) over a third of Hooded Warbler young were fathered by males playing away from their partners. Single parenting is also common.

Plumage transvestism (i.e. females having some degree of male plumage and therefore a transgendered appearance) is also very frequent. This ranges from having a few black feathers on the head like a male to being visually indistinguishable from a male. In this species males are mostly the only ones who sing, but some of the transvestite females are able to sing as well.

Hooded Warbler (Wilsonia citrina)

Homosexuality: Male Transgender: Transvestism Behaviours: Pair-bonding, Parenting Ranking: Moderate Observed: Wild

(See It’s Gay Animal Fortnight for an explanation of this box.)

Next time on Gay Animal Fortnight… gay pride march of the Penguins

Original Hooded Warbler image from Wikipedia Commons.

You catch more Flycatchers with honey…

More from Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl. Ocher-Bellied Flycatchers are small, long-tailed, olive green birds who live in lowland forests between Mexico and the Amazon.

These Flycatchers have a complex social organisation and three distinct types of male. About 42% are territorial, defending “courts” in the foliage within which they perform courtship displays. Sometimes groups of these territorials form an area of several nearby display courts, also known as a lek. 10% of males are satellites who associate with territorials but do not display. This could be regarded as a form of apprenticeship, since they often inherit the territory when the owner retires. 48% of males are itinerant and have no territory either of their own or in waiting.

The aim of the male leks is to attract a female mate, but territorial males will also court other males who visit. These visiting males will adopt the behaviour of females in every detail and be courted as if they really were female. Most interestingly of all, it appears that the courting males only realise that their mate is male when they reach the point of mating with them. At this point they will usually chase away the behaviourally “transvestite” male. The itinerant males, conversely, must be well aware that they are being courted by another male. There have been observations of apparently bisexual territorial males who court females in their own territory, but then go as a visitor in search of same-sex action in the territories of other males.

Ocher-Bellied Flycatcher (Mionectes oleagineus dyscola)

Homosexuality: Male Transgender: Transvestism Behaviours: Courtship Ranking: Incidental Observed: Wild

(See It’s Gay Animal Fortnight for an explanation of this box.)

Next time on Gay Animal Fortnight… more tiny avian transvestites!

Exterior decorators

More from Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity by Bruce Bagemihl. The Regent Bowerbird is about 12 inches long, with velvety black plumage and brilliant golden yellow highlights. It lives in the forests of Queensland, Australia.

They’re polygamous and promiscuous in their mating. Males court and mate with multiple partners in the display territories for which the bird is famous: the “bower” is an elaborate structure with two parallel walls made of twigs and a display area for ornaments the bird has collected.

The male’s courting display involves him dancing around and ritually presenting these precious possessions by holding each of them in his beak, one after the other. The objects may include snail shells, coloured insect carapaces, berries, seeds, flowers, or bits of human detritus such as blue plastic bags, broken glass, foil, twine, and bottle caps. Sometimes the males paint the bowers a yellowish-green colour by using a mixture of mashed-up, brightly coloured leaves and their saliva.

You may already have guessed that male Bowerbirds don’t see why all this effort should just be for the ladies to appreciate… or not appreciate in many cases, since females frequently get bored and move on before a male’s show is finished. How rude. The other boys, however, appreciate how much effort has gone into all his foraging and decoration. Sometimes they appreciate it so much that they want to mate with the bower’s owner. What you may not be expecting is that some male Bowerbirds are also transvestites…

Regent Bowerbird (Sericulus chrysocephalus)

Homosexuality: Male Transgender: Transvestism Behaviours: Courtship Ranking: Moderate Observed: Wild, Captivity

(See It’s Gay Animal Fortnight for an explanation of this box.)

Many younger males have plumage that resembles that of a female bird instead of a male. For up to seven years they may entirely resemble females or look like a mixture of male and female. These transvestites have special ways of building their bower and displaying their objects when they’re attempting to court somebody of their own gender. Bowerbirds with typical male plumage spend about 15% of their time trying to seduce other males. 28% of the juvenile transvestites’ display time is spent re-enacting the twist from The Crying Game with other males. Furthermore, two thirds of adult males seem to have no interest in courting anybody of either gender. Only a third of males build bowers at all, and only a fraction of visits by other Bowerbirds to a courting bird’s bower lead to mating.

Quite reminiscent of going back to somebody’s place, then they insist on showing you all their records or all their action figures or how many shoes and teddy bears they’ve got or something and you just think, OK… heading home now.

Next time on Gay Animal Fortnight… the gayest hoofed animal is not the Unicorn. It’s the Giraffe.

Original Regent Bowerbird image from Wikipedia Commons.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Adolf?

Bashful, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, and the worst little fella of them all, Nazi.

Two of Adolf Hitler’s favourite movies were Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and King Kong. He chattered nerdily and constantly about King Kong for days after it was screened for him at the Chancellery. He also enjoyed whistling the Disney tune Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Hitler was a bit obsessed with wolves, and was undoubtedly very well aware that whistling this tune was some creepy shit. “Adolf” derives from “Athal” (noble) and “Wolfa” (wolf). One of his early aliases was “Mr Wolf”, and he surrounded himself with Wolfshunde (Alsatians/German Shepherds). His French HQ was named Wolfsschlucht (Wolf’s Ravine), a Ukrainian one was Werwolf.

PS: While Hermann Göring was staying at the Ritz in occupied Paris, the corpulent Nazi asked Coco Chanel to design some women’s gowns in his very large size. This was to help him “relax”, apparently. Not that there’s anything wrong with men wearing dresses, of course, although some men (including other leading Nazis) were summarily murdered or sent to concentration camps for similar so-called “perversions”. But it’s certainly, shall we say, an arresting image: a big fat genocidal war criminal kicking back with the latest copy of Vogue and choosing couture dresses for himself while the world’s most destructive and total war ever rages around him. Sort of like a grisly mashup of Inglourious Basterds with Sex and the City.

Source: David J. Skal’s excellent book The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror.