Introduction:

This comprises animals (such as birds, mammals, insects, fish and so on) for which there is documented proof of homosexual or transgender behavior of one or more of the given types: sex, courtship, pair bonding, affection or parenting, as noted in researcher and author Bruce Bagemihl's 1999 book Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity.

Bagemihl states that the presence of similar-sex sexual behavior was not 'officially' noticed on a large scale till the 1990s due to the possible observer bias caused via social attitudes towards LGBT people making the homosexual theme taboo.

Petter Bockman, academic adviser for the Against Nature has proposed 'lots of researchers have explained homosexuality as something together dissimilar from sex. They should realize that animals can have sex by who they will, when they will and with no consideration to a researcher's moral principles'. Homosexual behavior is mainly found amongst social birds and mammals, specifically the sea mammals and the primates.

The sexual behavior of animals takes numerous different forms, even in the similar species and the motivations for and implications of their behaviors have yet to be completely understood. Bagemihl's research exhibits that homosexual behavior, not essentially sex, has been noticed in close to 1500 species, ranging from primates to gut worms, and is fine documented for 500 of them.

Homosexuality in animals is observed as controversial through social conservatives as it asserts the naturalness of homosexuality in the humans, whereas others counter that it has no implications and is irrational to equate animal behavior to the morality.

Animal motivation and preference is for all time contingents from behavior. Therefore homosexual behavior has been given a number of terms over the years. The right usage of the word homosexual is that an animal shows homosexual behavior, though this article conforms to the usage by modern research applying the word homosexuality to the whole sexual behavior (that is, genital stimulation, copulation, mating games and sexual display behavior) among animals of the similar sex.

Mammals:

Humans:

Human sexuality, alongside making sure biological reproduction, has significant social functions: it makes physical intimacy, bonds and hierarchies among the individuals; and in a hedonistic sense to the enjoyment of activity comprising sexual gratification. Sexual desire or libido is experienced as the bodily urge, frequently accompanied through strong emotions like ecstasy, love and jealousy. The extreme significance of sexuality in the human species can be observed in a number of physical characteristics, among them hidden ovulation, the evolution of external scrotum and penis suggesting sperm competition, the absence of an penis, permanent secondary sexual features, forming of pair bonds based on the sexual attraction as a common social structure and sexual capability in females outside of ovulation. Such adaptations point out that the significance of sexuality in humans is on a par with that found in the Bonobo and that the complex human sexual behavior consists of a long evolutionary history.

Human choices in acting on sexuality are generally affected through cultural norms, which differ broadly. Restrictions are frequently determined through religious beliefs or social customs. The pioneering researcher Sigmund Freud assumed that humans are born polymorphously perverse, that means that any number of objects could be a source of pleasure. According to Freud, humans then pass via five phases of psychosexual growth (and can fixate on any phase because of different traumas throughout the procedure). For Alfred Kinsey, the other influential sex researcher, people can fall anywhere all along a continuous scale of sexual orientation (with just small minorities completely homosexual or heterosexual). Recent studies of neurology and genetics propose people might be born predisposed to different sexual tendencies.  

Dog:

In domestic dogs, sexual maturity starts to happen around the age six to twelve months for both females and males; however this can be delayed till up to two years old for some big breeds. This is the time at which female dogs will encompass their first estrous cycle. They will experience subsequent estrous cycles biannually, throughout which the body gets ready for pregnancy. At the peak of the cycle, females will come into estrus, being physically and mentally receptive to copulation.

Due to the ova survive and are capable of being fertilized for a week after ovulation, it is possible for a female to mate by more than one male. Dogs bear their litters around 56 to 72 days after fertilization, with an average of 63 days; however the length of gestation can differ. An average litter comprises of around six puppies, however this number might differ broadly based on the breed of dog.

Toy dogs usually produce from one to four puppies in each litter, whereas much larger breeds might average as many as twelve.

Some of the dog breeds have acquired features via selective breeding which interfere with reproduction. Male French Bulldogs, for example, are incapable of mounting the female. For many dogs of this breed, the female should be artificially inseminated in order to reproduce.

Raccoon:

Raccoons generally mate in a period triggered by increasing daylight among late January and mid-March.

Though, there are big regional differences which are not fully explicable by solar conditions. For illustration, while raccoons in the southern states usually mate later than average, the mating season in Manitoba as well peaks later than usual in March and expands till June.

Throughout the mating season, males roam their home ranges in search of females in an effort to court them all through the three to four day period when conception is possible. Such encounters will often take place at central meeting places.

Copulation, comprising foreplay, can last over an hour and is repeated over quite a few nights.

The weaker members of a male social group as well are supposed to get the opportunity to mate, as the stronger ones can't mate with all the available females. 

Birds:

Chicken:

To start courting, some roosters might dance in a circle around or near a hen (that is, a circle dance), often lowering his wing which is nearby to the hen. The dance triggers a response in the hen's brain, and whenever the hen responds to his 'call', the rooster might mount the hen and carry on with the fertilization.

Reptiles:

Desert Tortoise:

Tortoises generally mate in the spring and in the fall. The female will lay a clutch of 3 to 5 hard-shelled-eggs (which are the shape and size of ping-pong balls), generally in June or July, and they hatch in August or September. Wild female tortoises can produce two or possibly three clutches a year.

Wood Turtles:

The wood turtle takes an extensive time to reach the sexual maturity, consists of a low fecundity (that is, capability to reproduce), and however consists of a high adult survival rate. Though, the high survival rates are not true of juveniles or hatchlings. Though males establish hierarchies, they are not territorial. The wood turtle becomes sexually mature among 14 and 18 years of age. Mating activity among wood turtles peaks in the spring and again in the fall, though it is known to mate all through the part of the year they are active. Though, it has been observed mating in December. In one rare example, a female wood turtle hybridized by a male Blanding's turtle.

The courtship ritual comprises of some hours of 'dancing', that generally takes place on the edge of a small stream. Males frequently initiate this behavior: starting by nudging the females shell, tail, head and legs. Due to this behavior, the female might flee from the area, in which case the male will follow. After the chase (if it takes place), the female and male approach and back away from one other as they constantly raise and extend their heads. After some time, they lower their heads and swing them from left to right.

Once it is sure that the two individuals will mate, the male will smoothly bite the female's head and mount her. Intercourse lasts between 22 and 33 minutes. Actual copulation occurs in the water, between depths between 0.1 and 1.2 meters. However unusual, copulation does take place on land. Throughout the two prominent times of mating (that is, spring and fall), females are mounted anywhere from one to eight times, by several of these causing impregnation. For this reason, a number of wood turtle clutches have been discovered to have hatchlings from more than one male.

Nesting takes place from May until July. Nesting regions get ample sunlight, have soft soil, are free from flooding, and are devoid of rocks and disruptively big vegetation. These sites though, can be limited among wood turtle colonies, forcing females to travel long distances in search of an appropriate site, at times a 250 meters trip. Before laying her eggs, the female might prepare some false nests. After a proper region is found, she will dig out a small cavity, lay about 7 eggs (however anywhere from three to 20 is common), and fill in the area with earth. Oval and white, the eggs average 3.7 centimeters in length and 2.36 centimeters in width and weigh around 12.7 grams. The nests themselves are 5 to 10 centimeters deep and digging and filling it might take a total of 4 hours. Hatchlings come out from the nest between August and October with overwintering being rare though completely possible. An average length of 3.65 centimeters, the hatchlings lack the vibrant coloration of the adults. Female wood turtles generally lay one clutch per year and tend to congregate around optimum nesting regions.

The wood turtle, all through the first years of its life, is a fast grower. Five years after hatching, it already assesses 11.5 centimeters, at age 16, it is a full 16.5 to 17 centimeters, based on gender. The wood turtle can be predictable to live for 40 years in the wild, having captives living up to 58 years.

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