In 2008, the Royal Society’s biology journal published Young’s paper, “Successful Same-sex pairing in Laysan Albatross.” According to this study, the phenomenon arose due to an imbalance in the male-to-female ratio of the species. Female albatrosses pair up and share maternal duties of offspring. See? Homosexuality is not a choice; it can be a necessary biological adaptation, both nurture and natural.
A popular quote from the Women’s Movement was “A man without a woman is like a fish without a bicycle.” Substitute “albatross” for “fish” and it still makes sense.
On the Hawaiian island of Oahu, almost a third of the Laysan albatross population is raised by two-female pairs. Although these pairs raise fewer chicks than the more-common “heterosexual” pairs, given the shortage of males, necessity for the species’ survival has prevailed. Albatrosses raise one chick a year, and female pairs, as well as male-female pairs remain monogamous. Genetic testing has borne out that these birds often take turns as biological mothers. Through these” lesbian” unions, Laysan Albatross are replenishing the islands where their existence had dwindled.
Although homosexuality -or same-sex coupling - does exist in the animal kingdom, the numbers are generally lower than that of this species of albatross - about 10% - a percentage that seems to appear in humans - seems to correlate to that of other animals.
For instance, Oregon State University’s notorious (or famous, depending where you stand on such issues) “gay sheep project” adds credence to evidence that same-sex unions are an adaptation with its origins in biology; it’s not a choice. In experiments, about 10% of the rams acted out sexually toward members of their own gender while showing marked indifference toward the ewes.
The frequency of same-sex pairing, as in the Laysan Albatross, occurrence is unusually high - almost one third. This bird's same-sex coupling for the raising of offspring can occur either within family groups or, more commonly, between unrelated females.
Young's study documents long-term pairing of unrelated female Laysan albatross. Its Latin name, Phoebastria immutabilis, may be due to the marked disparity within the species: 59% are females compared to the 41% males. This appears to be a a result of female-biased immigration.
In this case, female-female pairs play a most significant role in the maintenance and perpetuation of the species. A population’s gender distribution can affect a society’s structure and cause cooperative behavior, but the question remains. How much of this is biological and how much is a function of adaptation to the environment?
Though first noted and published in biological studies, it was Stephen Colbert who “outed” the “lesbian albatrosses” on cable TV's Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report’s “Threatdown” segment. As for the female birds themselves, there appears to be no embarrassing “outward displays of affection.”
