Answering Manny Pacquiao's question: Are there homosexual animals?

Filipino ring icon and Sarangani Rep.  Manny Pacquiao did not pull any punches in his statement against same sex marriage, speaking out against homosexual acts which he believes does not occur in other species. 

"Makakita ka ba ng any animals na lalake sa lalake o babae sa babae?" he asked in a viral video. 

The short answer is yes. Scientists have in fact found evidence of homosexual behavior among other species.

"Zoologists are discovering that homosexual and bisexual activity is not unknown within the animal kingdom," wrote James Owen in National Geographic News in 2004.

Homosexual behavior has been observed in apes, fruit flies, flour beetles, Laysan albatross, and in sheep... the domesticated ones, at least.

Evolutionary biologist Frans De Waal, in fact, famously observed homosexual behavior between bonobos, noting, "Bonobos do it a lot, and not just between male and female."

Interestingly, homosexual behavior or engaging in male-to-male or female-to-female sex or even lifetime partnership doesn't necessarily indicate that homosexuality exist in the animal kingdom. 

A report by BBC details the list of these animals that exhibit "signs" of homosexuality, but identifies the behavior as — contrary to popular belief — acts that improve the chance of reproducing. 

As Charles Darwin documented in "On the Origin of Species," survival matters most and it may seem counter-intuitive, but engaging in homosexual behavior improves the chances of some animals. For example, when a male flour beetle deposits his sperm in another male, he is increasing his chances of having an offspring. When the latter mounts a female flour beetle, it is his sperm that can potentially fertilize her. 

But this speaks of evolutionary need, not a matter of preference of one sex over another. 

Other cases, such as macaques, are not as clear-cut.

"A female may engage in female-female mounting, but that doesn't mean she isn't interested in males. Females often mount males, apparently to encourage them to mate more. Once they had evolved this behaviour, it was easy for them to apply it to other females as well," read the BBC article.

The BBC report notes that we should expect to find "many more animals that don't conform to traditional categories of sexual orientation."

Incidentally, it should be pointed out that humans are animals. But while most species exhibit emotions and a form of control over it, humans are miles ahead of other animals in terms of compassion. Perhaps then, for humans, love beyond sex is, to quote Pacquiao, "common sense." —Aya Tantiangco/JST, GMA News