Humor and History: The Sexuality of Animals

It wouldn't be Pride at Tangents if we weren't getting into some science! We're joined by Owen Ever and Laine Kaplan-Levenson, the hosts of a new show from news outlet Canadaland called "Field Guide to Gay Animals." Our conversation ranged far and wide across a myriad of ways queerness is expressed in the animal world and the challenges and joys of studying it. 

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Sources:

[Truth or Fail Express]

Sequentially hermaphroditic shrimp

https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/eeblog/2020/12/01/sequential-hermaphroditism-or-why-to-be-wary-of-frog-dna/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/oceans-rising-acidity-could-impact-shrimps-early-sex-reversal-180972521/

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0218238

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355179232_Protandric_Transcriptomes_to_Uncover_Parts_of_the_Crustacean_Sex-Differentiation_Puzzle

Nudibranch with male and female sex organs

https://www.livescience.com/27065-sea-slug-uses-disposable-penis.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3639767/

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10164-018-0562-z?wt

Sparrows with white or tan stripes and functionally four genders

https://www.audubon.org/news/the-fascinating-and-complicated-sex-lives-white-throated-sparrows

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7725849/

[This or That: Bird or Bug?]

Male-male duo that dances together to attract a mate (blue-backed manakin)

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51171525#page/225/mode/1up

https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/18/1/21/209396

Male-male pair that takes over a male-female pair’s nest (Japanese termites)

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/680968

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347216301233

Mating-related injuries on both male and female specimens (dragonflies)

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16252041#page/48/mode/1up

[Ask the Science Couch]

History of sexual diversity in animals documented or not in zoology (e.g. Adelie penguins)

https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/195/1/1/6568055

https://www.penguinscience.com/reprints/10%20Russell.pdf

http://www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/pdf-77304-13455?filename=Same_sex%20sexual%20behaviour.pdf

[Butt One More Thing]

Aristotle’s History of Animals mentions female pigeons laying wind-eggs after same-sex sexual behavior

https://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/history_anim.6.vi.html

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-an-egg-with-no-yolk