Happy pride! Made with gouache, ink, and gel pens.
This is a project I've been working on for a while for an anti-hate campaign. I chose to rebut the argument that homosexuality and non-cis gender identities are "unnatural" by providing examples of animals that are regularly seen to exhibit these so called "unnatural" behaviors with no human influence. What's more natural than nature itself?
Since the majority of animals have no concept of gender and many do not exhibit romantic attraction (namely reptiles, but just solitary animals in general), it was really difficult to specify what animal might fit in what category, especially gender-wise. This was definitely a thinking exercise, lol.
Here are my explanations for everything. I wish I could write this out a little better, but I've been working on this all day and my brain is completely fried but I wanted to get it out before pride month ended. I also have footage of the process I need to turn into a timelapse but its like 15 hours of video and it's going to take forever to render. I'll probably link it here eventually. EDIT: Added! As well as a better version of the finished piece.
Lesbian: Mourning geckos are an all female species of gecko that reproduce asexually through parthenogenesis. Even though they can lay eggs alone, they engage in pseudocopulation with other females, which seems to trigger ovulation.
Female koalas engage in all female "sex sessions," attempting to mate with each other prolifically. They reject males during this time.
Gay: Penguins have been observed to form same-sex partnerships, even going as far as hatching eggs and raising chicks together.
Male giraffes exhibit striking amounts of homosexual behavior. In one study, sexual activity between males made up 90 percent of all observed mating attempts.
Bisexual: 18-22 percent of rams are bisexual. They also seem to exhibit asexuality, in addition to homosexuality. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2668810/
Transgender: Hens will sometimes stop producing eggs, grow spurs, have increased wattle growth, and begin exhibiting male specific behaviors, like crowing.
Clownfish are born male and become females later in life if no other dominant female is present. They experience protandry, a form of sequential hermaphroditism.
Intersex: The gene that gives calico cats their coat pattern is linked to two X chromosomes. Male presenting calico cats will have an extra X chromosome, and can be considered intersex. (Sorry that the cat also has white, it's hard to color a calico with only two colors lol)
Asexual: Bees and naked mole rats both live in communities where only the most dominant matriarch (and patriarch, for mole rats) breed. Both male and female mole rats exhibit this behavior. The nonbreeding individuals benefit the community by gathering resources and rasing young.
Aromantic: Reptiles, as a general rule, feel no romantic attraction. Tortoises are solitary by nature and do not form bonds with their mates.
Pansexual: Lovebirds can be non-discriminatory with the mates they choose, and it is not uncommon to see individuals match up regardless of sex.
Agender: Ochre sea stars show no sexual dimorphism at all. Most animals have no concept of gender, but they are especially genderless. The only way to determine their sex is to examine their internal gonads.
Genderfluid: Gobies are one of the few animals that change their sex multiple times in their life.
Nonbinary: African land snails have both male and female sexual organs, and do not have a binary sex.
