Getting the facts right
Same-sex mating in animals is not as rare as you might think
THE COMMENTS that Emmanuel Dapidran (“Manny”) Pacquiao made in the media recently have inspired lots of responses. Since the Filipino world champion professional boxer has attacked not only gay people but also animals, I thought that I could add my own viewpoint.
My column is about animals, after all.
Pacquiao is known not only because of his prowess in boxing, but also because of his involvement in basketball, acting, singing and politics.
He’s also admired for his activities to benefit society.
The heart of Pacquiao’s arguments is his stand against gay activism and same-sex civil marriages. He’s been quoted as saying, “God only expects man and women to be together and to be legally married.”
He then took his opinion a step further in mid-February. In a video statement posted by TV5, he said, “If we approve male on male, female on female (marriage), then man is worse than animal.” He described people in same-sex civil marriages as behaving worse than animals because animals generally do not have same-sex mating.
Pacquiao has a right to his opinion, of course, and I’d have no right to comment on anyone’s religious beliefs. It’s just that a man with so much charisma and influence should be careful to check his facts.
Of course animals have same-sex mating – not every animal, not even every species, but it’s more common than you’d think.
Years and years ago, I adopted a stray cat that I named Malee. Readers might remember her, or perhaps the two other cats I had at that time, Barbie and Petra.
I thought Malee was a kitten, but in fact she was just small. One evening, she suddenly went into heat. She rolled around the floor, but instead of the usual “honk” you hear from a female in heat, Malee had a very sweet, soft meow.
Barbie, who had never seen a female in heat before, ran under the sofa. Petra, who had had a litter of kittens before I adopted her, seemed to recognise the sexy yell.
She observed Malee for a few minutes, then jumped on top of her, taking over the role of a boyfriend, with all the bumps and grinds.
After a few minutes, Petra stopped and walked away. Malee fell silent, staring at Petra in a bit of confusion.
I didn’t know it then, but that evening was the start of a beautiful friendship between Malee and Petra that ended only with Petra’s death years later.
Malee, though, never went into heat again. She was spayed as soon as her body was ready for the operation, but even so, she continued to consider Petra her personal friend and protector.
Amongst the sadder stories of same-sex mating that I’ve heard involves the two male penguins in a German zoo from years ago. These two set up housekeeping together, and even adopted an egg or two abandoned by female penguins. These eggs the two boys raised from chicks into happy adults.
Sadly, one of the boys suddenly became attracted to a lady penguin and moved out to set up housekeeping with his new-found love. The remaining boy spent the rest of his life in lonely solitude. He never rescued an egg again.
Researchers with much more experience than I have made lists of species where same-sex mating is common. When Pacquiao made his comments about animals, these researchers published their findings in any newspaper that would accept their work.
While other people struggle to find compassion and understanding in our turbulent times, there may yet be hope for Pacquiao. This extraordinary man is only 38, after all. He still has time to learn about the world, as well as the people and animals in it.
