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The Raelian Movement
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Page last updated at 08:37 GMT, Wednesday, 20 October 2010 09:37 UK
Penguins flirt with homosexuality
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9093000/9093531.stm
By Ella Davies
Earth News reporter
'Gay' king penguin pairs do not stay together
King penguins do not form long-term homosexual pairs despite same-sex
"flirting", one of the first evidence-based studies has revealed.
Researchers found that over a quarter of the birds in one colony
displayed in same-sex pairs, yet only two pairs bonded by learning
each other's calls and both were later seen caring for eggs in
heterosexual pairs.
The scientists suggest that these same sex displays could be caused by
an excess of males or high levels of testosterone.
Researchers from the Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology in
Montpellier, France studied king penguins on the Antarctic island of
Kerguelen to better understand their mating behaviour.
During the mating season king penguins displayed with potential
partners: closing their eyes, stretching their heads skyward and
moving them in a half-circle to "take peeks" at one another.
To successfully pair bond the penguins learned one another's calls to
stay in contact in the breeding colony.
The scientists did not set out to measure rates of homosexuality in
king penguins.
Instead, they came to their conclusions after studying the birds'
behaviour and crucially, sexing individuals.
In doing so, they ended up with the first evidence-based study of
homosexuality among king penguins, and one of the first among all
penguins.
In their study, published in the journal Ethology, the researchers
found that 28.3% of the birds studied displayed to penguins of the
same sex.
"Of course, it took DNA sexing to work this out since males and
females look so similar," said Director of Research, Professor F
Stephen Dobson.
In the past, it was claimed that penguins could not discern between
the sexes because they looked alike.
However, Professor Dobson debunked this theory when his results did
not meet "random" projections.
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'GAY' PENGUIN PARENTS
A bonded pair of king penguins
In New York's Central Park zoo a male-male pair of chinstrap penguins
hatched and reared an "adopted" egg. One of the pair later bonded with
a newly introduced female
In Germany's Bremerhaven zoo, a male pair of Humboldt penguins were
given a fertilised egg to nurture and successfully reared the chick
The San Francisco zoo was home to a homosexual male pair of Magellanic
penguins who also raised a chick. One male bonded with a neighbouring
female in the following breeding season
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"I found that the rate of homosexually displaying pairs was
significantly lower than one would expect by chance," said Professor
Dobson.
Of the displaying pairs, he observed, only two bonded: "Among 75
bonded pairs, we found one male-male pair and one female-female pair
that had learned the song of their partner."
"So these [homosexual] pairs can bond. But, bonded pairs can split up
if one finds a more preferred partner," Professor Dobson explained.
Full article on url above
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"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
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There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
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