2023-07-11 10:55:39
Updated Tuesday, July 11, 2023 – 10:55
After recording the copulations of 236 males, they found that 72% of them had sex with other males compared to 46% of those who did so with females.
A group of macaques.JEROME FAVREAP
A team of imperial college london has found that homosexual behavior in macaque monkeys is widespread and hereditary. The researchers have come to this conclusion after observing a wild colony of macaques for three years.
In view of the data, the article, published this Monday in Nature Ecology and Evolutionsuggests that homosexual behavior may be a result of evolution and a common feature of primate reproduction.
Based on observations and genetic data, the study refutes the belief that homosexual behavior between males of the same species (SSB) is something rare in non-human animals that occurs only under unusual conditions.
However, for Jackson Cliveof Imperial’s Georgina Mace Center for the Living Planet and first author of the study, this study demonstrates that “most males behave bisexually and that variation in same-sex activity is heritable.”
For the authors, this means that the behavior may have an evolutionary basis and that the males that copulated with each other were more likely to lean into conflict: “Perhaps this could be one of the many social benefits of same-sex sexual activity,” says Clive.
“Our research therefore shows that same-sex sexual behaviors may be common among animals and may evolve.”
A COLONY OF 1,700 RHESUS MACAQUES
The team studied 236 males from a colony of 1,700 rhesus macaques living in the wild on the tropical island of Cayo SantiagoPuerto Rico.
In addition to observing their behavior and performing genetic analyses, the team had access to each individual’s genealogical and kinship records dating back to 1956.
After recording all the copulations of the 236 males, both males with males (SSB) and males with females (different-sex behavior, DSB), they found that 72% of the males had sex with other males compared to 46% of the males. those who did it with individuals of the opposite sex.
GAY BEHAVIOR WHY?
SSB has been observed in thousands of species, from insects to penguins.
To explain this behavior, science has given several reasons: dominance in a group, a shortage of partners of different sexes or a reduction in tension after an attack, but there is still not enough data to corroborate these theories.
The team investigated several of these theories with their data and found that, in this colony of macaques, SSB in males was highly related to female macaques. collaborative ‘alliances’that is, male pairs who have regular sex are more likely to support each other in conflict, giving them an advantage in the group.
They also studied the effect of homosexual sex on the number of offspring and found that males who practice it may have more reproductive success, thanks to the benefits of having more ‘alliances’.
They also confirmed that the SSB is hereditary in 6.4%, This is the first evidence of a genetic link to primate SSB outside of humans (the figure is similar to that for other heritable behaviors in primates, such as grooming and sociability).
These results refute the idea that the SBB “defies nature and evolution” (the so-called “Darwinian paradox”).
For the principal investigator, Vincent Savolainenfrom Imperial College, “unfortunately some people continue to believe that homosexual behavior is unnatural”, even in some countries homosexuality is prosecuted under penalty of death.
“Our research shows that homosexual behavior is widespread among non-human animals” although “our duty is to advance the scientific understanding of homosexual behavior, and explore the benefits it brings to nature and animal societies,” he concludes.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
#Homosexual #behavior #among #male #macaques #common #hereditary