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clock-iconPUBLISHED25 minutes ago

Just How Queer Is The Natural World? | IFLScience The Big Questions

Our understanding of queer natural history goes back much longer than you might think.

Eleanor Higgs headshot

ELEANOR HIGGS

Eleanor Higgs headshot

ELEANOR HIGGS

Digital Content Creator

Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Reading and a master’s in wildlife documentary production from the University of Salford.

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Digital Content Creator

Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Reading and a master’s in wildlife documentary production from the University of Salford.View full profile

Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Reading and a master’s in wildlife documentary production from the University of Salford.

View full profile
A picture of two male lions rubbing their heads together affectionately, overlaid with the image of mobile phone showing The Big Questions logo.

Queer behaviors are seen throughout the natural world, but have a long history of being covered up or explained away. 

Image credit: Georgia Evans/shutterstock; modified by IFLScience

Gay penguins and fish that change sex? How about birds engaging in lesbian behavior? We delve into the natural world and its often underreported queer behaviors that have frequently been steeped in historical prejudices and biases.  

From mammals and birds to squid and beetles, queer behaviors and biologies are more prevalent than you might imagine among non-human animals. 

So just how queer is the natural world? Host Eleanor Higgs speaks to Josh Luke Davis, author of A Little Gay Natural History, to find out more about one of the more controversial zoological topics. 

You can listen to this episode and subscribe to the podcast on all your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Amazon Music, and more. 

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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED25 minutes ago

Written by Eleanor Higgs

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