A team of researchers from the Mandurah
Dolphin Research Project in Western Australia recently observed big
groups of dolphins engaging in what is being described as homosexual
behavior.
Krista Nicholson of the Murdoch
University told the Mandurah
Mail about the team's observations.
Researchers studied the socializing of
a group of dolphins after peak mating season was over.
“These dolphins, all but three of
them juveniles, organized themselves in four sub-groups in which they
were observed engaging in socio-sexual behavior that included
mounting and genital contact between individuals,” Nicholson
said.
“The subgroups joined, frequently
forming a large group and then split again in different group
compositions.”
“Homosexual behavior, as identified
here, has been described for dolphin populations elsewhere,” she
said, including dolphins in nearby Shark Bay.
“Apart from homosexual behavior,
males, unlike females, in Shark Bay have also been recorded to
perform synchronous displays,” Nicholson said. “In Shark Bay,
where male dolphins form lifelong alliances, socio-sexual
interactions between males are more common than between females or
between the sexes.”
Nicholson added that such behavior
might play a part in the development of social bonds between male
dolphins. Another researcher who has written about homosexual
behavior in animals and studied dolphins at Shark Bay said that
another possible reason is for males to practice “courtship
behaviors for adulthood.”