Dolphin sexual behavior

[AAsberry]

I am doing research on mammal homosexual behavior.
1. do dolphins exhibit homosexual tendencies?
2. what percentage?
3. both sexes?
4. are they exclusively homosexual or bisexual?
5. any other info you might think relevant
I have found as much as 28% of the males of other species are homosexual.
Please e-mail AAsb...@aol.com or post here.

[Jack R. Sims Jr.]

Hail!
Yes, I've seen wild young (not fully grown) male dolphins buggering each
other, at least that is what it looked like. Don't think I would call it
homosexual tendencies though. More like mutual masturbation. I'm in no way
sure but with the exception of humans I don't think you will find
homosexuality among other animals. Sexual acts to establish male dominance,
masturbation and experimentation but homosexuality is a bit to
anthropomorphic for me.

The two cases I witnessed were both durning the day, mid morning, mid
summer in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast about 20 miles in about 60
ft of water. Both cases were after feeding. In one case two young dolphins
were mutually poking each other back and forth in what appeared to be fun
squabbling. Kind of a "I'll stick it in your ass" "Yeah well I can stick it
in your ass too" They appeared to be trying to slip up on each other and
then the sucessful one would flash off. I got the definite feeling that
they were showing off, but that is subjective opinion. There were probably
8 or 10 other dolphins present but I really don't remember the exact
number. I think the activity went on for about 15 minutes but it might have
been a bit longer or shorter. The group stayed around for an hour or so but
the males did not bugger each other again althought they raced each other
several times and were more active that the others.

In the second case there seems like there were maybe only 3 or 4 dolphins
present and the buggering was one sided. One young male seem to be picking
on another young male. I only saw it happen twice, I think, but each time I
am sure it was the same male as the one buggered swam quickly away. Then
after staying on the outside of the group for a couple of minutes he
rejoined the group and was assulted again by the same male. He then swam
away outside the group again. The group then all swam off.

These two cases were out of three years of observation so seem fairly rare
to me. It must be remembered that when I was observing the dolphins they
were normally in the process of feeding or just after feeding which might
not have been a good time to witness sexual acts.
JackJr.

frank...@delphi.com wrote in article <JrIaXXY.f...@delphi.com>...

> AAsberry <aasb...@aol.com> writes:
>
> >I am doing research on mammal homosexual behavior.
> >1. do dolphins exhibit homosexual tendencies?
>
>

> It's been observed, but unfortunately, I can't recall speccific
references
> right off the top of my head.

>
>
> >2. what percentage?
>
>
>
> >3. both sexes?
>
>

> Erection in the male is obvious, (though not *always* proof pf sexual
> arousal...they can even be trained to do it on cue), sexual contact
between
> females
> would be harder to recognize for what it was....
>
> Frank
>
>

[Peter da Silva]

Since a lot of what we would consider "sexual" behaviour in dolphins
seems to be bonding, dominance, and other intra-group social behaviour
unrelated to reproduction, I don't think that you're asking the right
question.

(of course, the same is true among humans, but that's another issue)
--

The Reverend Peter da Silva, ULC, COQO, BOFH, KIBO, 3D0G.
Hail Eris, All hail Discordia.

[Bill Gross]

"Jack R. Sims Jr." <SIMS...@worldnet.att.net> wrote:

Jack, you seem to have some interesting observations. Could you give
us some background on how you did this. Have you published anything
on the Gulf Coast small whale population. I had heard that TAMU was
doing some research on this subject, were you part of that group?
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[Tina M Noyes]

Jack R. Sims Jr. (SIMS...@worldnet.att.net) wrote:
: Hail!

: Yes, I've seen wild young (not fully grown) male dolphins buggering each
: other, at least that is what it looked like. Don't think I would call it
: homosexual tendencies though. More like mutual masturbation. I'm in no way
: sure but with the exception of humans I don't think you will find
: homosexuality among other animals. Sexual acts to establish male dominance,
: masturbation and experimentation but homosexuality is a bit to
: anthropomorphic for me.

That is not true... homosexuality is observed in almost every species. An
examle is the Seagull, 20% of female seagulls are lesbian or bisexual and
10% of male seagulls are gay. Mutual masturbation by two members of the
same sex IS homosexual activity. (ie. sexual activity between members of
the same sex!) In fact, in many cases, homosexuality is more prevalent
among other animals, since the psychological and social factors may be
less evident, and therefore individuals may not feel compelled to hide
their nature.

When it comes down to it, homosexuality means that an individual is
sexually attracted to members of the same sex. Many animals are sexually
attracted to anything which will stimulate them, and the psychological
factors of attraction may be absent for less intellectual animals. Almost
any animal has the capacity for feeling and emotion, and who can say what
that means. If you are talking about homosexual love, as opposed to
homosexual attraction, one must first ask the question of whether animals
love. I think the answer for most is "yes", and perhaps to different
degrees. When it comes to dolphins, I can see the capacity for love as
deep as any human emotion...

In conclusion:
1) homosexual activity is definitely observed in almost every
species.
2) homosexual love among animals is difficult to ascertain, as is
heterosexual love, but I think it exists.

Tina Noyes