New Study: Penguins have gay flings only in the absence of females

For as long as I can remember, penguins have beaten out more obviously gay creatures (peacocks, boas, baby bears) as the homosexual icon of the animal kingdom. Their status stems from a pair of male penguins, Vielpunkt and Z, who, according to their keepers, had a monogamous, sexual relationship and incubated and hatched an egg together -- in Germany, of course. 

However, a new study suggests that King penguins don't form long-term homosexual bonds, but rather, engage in occasional gay sex when they are "lonely" from lack of female companionship. The existence of homosexual relationships in animals has often been used as evidence for the naturalness of homosexuality. If animals are gay too, homosexuality is a genetic-variation, not a choice, some would argue. 

Now, however, it turns out that the conservatives were right all along -- gay men and women are just lonely penguins, looking for a lusty hookup in a nearby public bathroom or igloo.  However, scientists did find that around twenty-eight percent of male penguins had homosexual experiences. Which might explain why all those "straight" penguins keep getting caught in gay sex clubs. 

Either that, or making comparisons between human sexuality and animal sex is stupid.