Ahhh true love :heart: It just goes to show how stupid this thing about not letting gay couples marry is... I mean in the current situation Wendell and Cass don't have legal joint ownership entitlement to their nest so if one was to die the other may be forced out by their former partner's family. They can't get social security or pensions yet they sound like the most devoted penguin couple around... so sad.
That is such a great story ! Just wish I had known about that specific example when confronted with a true homo-hater (not just homophobic, really truly full of hate... yuck... ) a couple of years ago on another forum... Several people tried to respond to his "it's not natural, man is the only animal that would do something that much against nature" with arguments that animals could also be "gay", but with nothing to back us up, he just went on ranting until he was eventually banned... Yay for penguins, I say !
All the rumours about Pingu are true! :shock: But yeah, was a good story, also quite weird how the penguins are also perpetuating the gay couple stereotype of the butch one and the effeminate one...
A lot of homosexual occurances in the animal world are just a placement of dominance. The little boy toy knows not to mess with Big Ted or he'll be walking funny for a week again. This story was quite neat though. I've heard several tales of the first type, but this is much more interesting. I especially loved the last sentence, "Rumors that they keep the neatest nest at the aquarium because they're gay are not true. 'These are penguins," said Mitchell. "They poop in their nest. Nobody's got a clean nest." That made me laugh.
Well, some biologists say that that's what nature wants them to do - couples unable to produce biological offspring are more eager to adopt forlorn eggs or young ones. That way, there's a nest for everyone. The explanation as such may just be a hypthesis, but as a matter of fact it can be seen in most species that relate on any kind of couples for procreation - that's what I've red in several reportages by now. I wonder when it's going to make it into schoolbooks. Behavioural scientists of the past often ignored the facts or refused to report them, and some of them admit having done so today. The "It's not natural!" - argument, however, has no factual ground, it seems. But anyway... "It's not natural" - everyone using that sentence in no matter what context disqualifies himself laready. I mean, is it natural to wear blue jeans, and drive cars, and have your appendix taken out in case it's infected? Wasn't there a PTerry quote that if "it were all natural, we'd still be sitting in trees" or something? We're cultural beings, basically.* [i:78b564e49f]That[/i:78b564e49f]'s our nature.
I know Wendell and Cass personally. I am originally from Coney Island, about a ten minute walk from the aquarium. I have read Biological Exuberance. It is an excellent book. edit: Changed last sentence
I liked the part about them not having the cleanest nest too. And I didn't know being gay wasn't just a human thing so I learned something.
