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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

While bonobos are renowned for their rich sexual repertoire which includes homosexual acts, much less is known about the homosexual behaviour of other Great Apes.

Associate Professor Cyril Grueter from UWA's School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology was conducting a study on the feeding ecology of mountain gorillas in Rwanda when he observed homosexual behaviour in some of the females leading him to delve deeper.

Of the 22 female gorillas studied, 18 were found to engage in homosexual activity such as frottage [phys.org].

Associate Professor Cyril Grueter said the observations were intriguing and led him to test three (sociosexual) hypotheses that might explain the behaviour- the gorillas' asserting dominance based on social rank, the reinforcing of social bonds or reconciliation after a fight.

"None of the three hypotheses received any consistent support," he said.

"So a more prosaic explanation was considered - that homosexual behaviour reflects elevated arousal, as there was evidence that homosexual behaviour was more frequent at times when females also engaged in heterosexual copulations."

Birds do it, bees do it...

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