
By Bruce Bagemihl
A Publishers Weekly top Book
One of the recent York Public Library's "25 Books to Remember" for 1999
Homosexuality in its myriad kinds has been scientifically documented in additional than 450 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, bugs, and different animals around the globe. Biological Exuberance is the 1st finished account of the topic, bringing jointly actual, obtainable, and nonsensationalized details. Drawing upon a wealthy physique of zoological study spanning greater than centuries, Bruce Bagemihl indicates that animals have interaction in every kind of nonreproductive sexual habit. Sexual and gender expression within the animal global monitors exuberant kind, together with same-sex courtship, pair-bonding, intercourse, and co-parenting—even cases of lifelong gay bonding in species that don't have lifelong heterosexual bonding.
Part 1, "A Polysexual, Polygendered World," starts with a survey of homosexuality, transgender, and nonreproductive heterosexuality in animals after which delves into the wider implications of those findings, together with a worthwhile standpoint on human variety. Bagemihl additionally examines the hidden assumptions at the back of the way in which biologists examine ordinary structures and indicates a clean standpoint in keeping with the synthesis of up to date medical insights with conventional wisdom from indigenous cultures.
Part 2, "A Wondrous Bestiary," profiles greater than one hundred ninety species during which clinical observers have famous gay or transgender habit. every one profile is a verbal and visible "snapshot" of 1 or extra heavily similar fowl or mammal species, containing the entire documentation required to help the author's frequently debatable conclusions.
Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, choked with attention-grabbing evidence and brilliant descriptions of animal habit, Biological Exuberance is a landmark booklet that might switch ceaselessly how we glance at nature.