sex and relationships
August 30, 2023 | 5:18 PM
These monkeys are eating bananas from each other.
A July 2023 study found that same-sex monkey-playing is all the rage among rhesus macaques on Cayo Santiago, a 38-acre island off the coast of Puerto Rico.
The researchers determined that 72% of the 236 male primates enjoyed same-sex sex. They also found that among mostly secluded groups of monkeys, frolicking between males can have reproductive benefits.
That’s wild!
“Our results show that same-sex sociosexual behavior is frequent, evolving, and inexpensive in rhesus macaques.” [to their overall fitness],” Read the research and be guided By Vincent Savolainen, Professor of Organismal Biology and Director of the Georgina Mace Center for the Living Planet at Imperial College London.
In 2017, 2019, and 2020, Savolainen and his team detailed the social and incremental behavior of rhesus macaques, descendants of great apes transported from India to this small island in 1938 for remote observation. Observed. Savolainen points out that rhesus macaques have something in common. Research suggests that humans had a common ancestor about 25 million years ago.
He and his colleagues found that same-sex behavior in monkeys is reproducible and heritable. In other words, the monkeys imitated observed sexual intercourse and also based their behavior on genetic predispositions.
However, the study found that only 6% of homosexual encounters can be attributed to monkey genes.
It may seem unusual for animals of the same sex to handkerchief each other, but it’s not at all uncommon.
In fact, homosexuality between male and female penguins around the world is all the rage online, including a pair of gay penguins at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York who became fathers for the first time on New Year’s Day 2022. Also included.
In 2017, a 186-year-old turtle named Jonathan was discovered to be infatuated with a male lover known by the name of Frederick.
But in the case of macaque monkeys, the researchers found that most same-sex banter is rooted not in romance but in social perks such as increased evolutionary fitness.
Macaques also engage in sexual activity when one male monkey mates with a female or supports each other by arguing with other monkeys, rather than asserting dominance over other male monkeys through mounting. It was also discovered that people view this as a kind of ritual that strengthens the bond between “comrades.” .
“The results also show that individually mounted males are more likely to support each other as part of a coalition during conflicts with other individuals.” Formation has been shown to improve reproductive success, [same-sex social-sexual behavior] This may at least partially explain its evolutionary maintenance in these primates. ”
The discovery challenges the long-held Darwinian paradox, introduced by Charles Darwin, who theorized that it is nearly impossible for a species to survive by engaging in non-reproductive activities such as same-sex relationships. Masu.
But despite the study’s surprising implications, skeptical scientists not involved in Savolainen’s study cautioned against applying data from monkeys to other primates, including humans. ing.
“Same-sex sexual behavior is a strange puzzle that doesn’t make sense from an evolutionary standpoint, and we need to solve it based on its usefulness from a fitness perspective,” said Associate Professor, Department of Social and Cultural Studies. says Michelle Rodriguez. Marquette University of Science; told Scientific American With reference to Savolainen’s report. “It is reductionist and can lead to assumptions and generalizations about behaviors that cannot be understood in other animals because of different cultural constructs.”
She added that such research is “valuable for understanding things like the evolution of social relationships and sexual relationships.”
“At the same time,” Rodriguez continued. “We have to be very careful about what conclusions we draw and how they apply to human understanding.”
Savolainen agreed.
“One thing that can probably be said is that we can learn about the past from our relatives, but clearly humans have evolved in very different societies than macaques,” he told the outlet. Ta.
“Some might say that whatever is discovered in animals is irrelevant to the possibilities faced by humans,” Savolainen says. “But the interesting question is: Does recognizing that it’s so common in nature make people feel better? In a society that condemns homosexuality even with the death penalty, homosexuality is natural I often say that if we had scientific evidence that this is the case, we wouldn’t be so strict about homosexuality.”
Researchers hope the findings will help quell extreme reactions to same-sex acts, noting that macaque monkeys have shown that the act is “actually beneficial.” .
“This should be a fresh way of looking at what’s happening in nature,” Savolainen said.
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