Birds gone wild: same-sex parenting in albatross

Marlene Zuk, Nathan W. Bailey

Research output: Contribution to journalShort surveypeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Same-sex behavior in animals fascinates scientists as well as laypeople, partly because of implications about sexual orientation in humans. After all, if animals engage in homosexuality, can it be dismissed as 'unnatural'? A recent paper by Young and colleagues documents long-term female pairs in >30% of Laysan albatross on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The unrelated females bred successfully, challenging ideas about cooperative breeding, alternative reproductive strategies and perhaps even the evolution of sexual orientation.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)658-660
Number of pages3
JournalTrends in Ecology and Evolution
Volume23
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2008

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
M.Z. is funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and the UCR Academic Senate.

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