Consorts, Satellites, and Triumvirates: Same-Sex Mates and Pair-Bonding

Wild animals often form significant pair-bonds with animals of the same sex. Homosexual pair-bonding takes many different forms, but two broad categories can be recognized: “partners,” who engage in sexual or courtship activities with each other, and “companions,” who are bonded to each other but do not necessarily engage in overt sexual activity with one another. More than a third of the mammals and birds in which homosexual activity occurs have at least one of these types of same-sex bonding. The archetypal example of a “partnership” is the mated pair: two individuals who are strongly bonded to one another in a way that is equivalent to heterosexually paired animals of the same species. Partners engage directly in courtship, sexual, and/or parenting behaviors; they usually spend a significant amount of time with each other; and they do similar activities together. This is found primarily in birds (more than 70 different species)—not surprisingly, since heterosexual pairing is typical of feathered creatures (but generally rare in other animal groups). Examples of homosexual mates are found in male Black Swans and Black-headed Gulls, and female Black-winged Stilts and Silver Gulls (among many others). In mammals, partnerships take many different forms, including “consortships” in female Rhesus and Japanese Macaques, “sexual friendships” in Stumptail and Crab-eating Macaques, “tending bonds” between male Bison, and “coalitions” between male Bonnet Macaques, Savanna Baboons, and Cheetahs. Some animals, while not necessarily forming same-sex bonds, do have “preferred” or “favorite” sexual and affectionate partners with whom they tend to interact more often than with others: this is true for Bonobos, Gorillas, Killer Whales, and Dwarf Cavies, among others.

A mated pair of female Canada Geese

Many forms of same-sex partnership are exclusive or monogamous, and partners may even actively defend their pair-bond against the intrusion of outside individuals (for instance in male Gorillas, female Japanese Macaques, and male Lions). Animals of the same sex sometimes also compete with each other for the attentions of homosexual partners, as in male Gorillas and Blue-winged Teals; female Orang-utans, Japanese Macaques, and Orange-fronted Parakeets may even compete with males for “preferred” female partners. Some partnerships, however, are “open” or nonmonogamous: female Bonobos and Rhesus Macaques, for instance, may have sexual relations with several different “favorite” partners or consorts (of both sexes). Males in homosexual pairs of Greylag Geese, Laughing Gulls, Humboldt Penguins, and Flamingos sometimes engage in “promiscuous” copulations with birds (male or female) other than their mate (heterosexual pairs in these species are also sometimes nonmonogamous). Another form of nonmonogamy occurs among lesbian pairs in a number of Gulls and other birds: one or both females sometimes mate with a male (while still maintaining their same-sex bond) and are thereby able to fertilize their eggs and become parents.

The second main type of homosexual pairing is the “companionship.” Two animals of the same sex may bond with each other, often spending most of their time together exclusive of the opposite sex, but they do not necessarily engage in recognizable courtship or sexual activities with each other. For example, older African Elephant bulls sometimes form long-lasting associations with a younger “attendant” male: these animals are loners, spending all their time with each other rather than with other Elephants, helping each other, and never engaging in heterosexual activity. Male Calfbird companions display and travel together and also sometimes share a “home” with one another (a special perch known as a retreat where they spend time away from the display court). Similar same-sex associations are found in many other species, including Orang-utans, Gray Whales, Grizzly Bears, Vampire Bats, and Superb Lyrebirds. Younger same-sex attendants are known as satellites in male Moose and shadows in male Walruses, while companions are called duos in male Hanuman Langurs and spinsters in female Warthogs—the latter is something of a misnomer, though, since Warthog companions do occasionally participate in sexual activity with males or females, but not necessarily with their companions.

Sometimes more than two animals bond together, forming a “trio” (in either partnership or companionship form). This arrangement can consist of three animals all of the same sex who are bonded with each other, as occasionally happens among female Ring-billed Gulls and male African Elephants, White-tailed Deer, and Black-headed Gulls. Trios can also be bisexual, consisting of two females and one male (e.g., Canada Geese, Common Gulls, and Jackdaws) or two males and one female (Greylag Geese, Black Swans, Sociable Weavers); in Oystercatchers, both types occur. In either form of a bisexual trio, there is significant bonding, courtship, and/or sexual behavior between the two animals of the same sex. This distinguishes such associations from heterosexual trios, in which two animals of the same sex are bonded with an opposite-sexed individual but not to each other. Same-sex trios of closely bonded male Greylag Geese or female Grizzly Bears are also sometimes known as triumvirates, while bisexual (and heterosexual) trios in Flamingos are called triads. In a few species, “quartets” involving simultaneous homosexual and heterosexual bonds between four individuals sometimes occur: in Greylag Geese and Black-headed Gulls, for instance, three males and a female sometimes bond with each other, while in Galahs, two males and two females may associate in a quartet with various bonding arrangements between them.

Homosexual pair-bonds vary not only in their type, but also in their duration. Same-sex bonding often follows the species-typical pattern for heterosexual pairing in terms of how long it lasts. In species such as the Greylag Goose, for example, which remain mated for life (or else for many consecutive years), male pairs are also generally long-lasting or lifelong, while in Bison, tending bonds usually last only a few days or hours in both heterosexual and homosexual situations. In some cases, long-term pair bonding involves continuous association throughout the year, as among male Ocellated Antbirds. This contrasts with seasonal association, for example among several species of Gulls, in which females re-pair with the same female only during the mating season. Homosexual pairs may also be of shorter duration than heterosexual ones in some species: Black-headed Gull male couples, for example, appear to be more prone to divorce than heterosexual ones. However, in many cases homosexual pairings, particularly companionships, actually exceed heterosexual ones in their stability and duration. Among Lions and Elephants, for example, the bond between male companions is closer and longer-lasting than any heterosexual bonds (which, in these and many other species, are virtually nonexistent beyond mating), while mated gander pairs in Greylag Geese are often more strongly bonded than heterosexual pairs. Consortships between Japanese Macaque females sometimes develop into yearlong friendships, unlike the majority of heterosexual associations in this species. In fact, in a number of animals the only pair-bonds that occur are homosexual, not heterosexual. Male Bottlenose Dolphins, for example, form lifelong partnerships with each other, while males and females in this species do not generally pair-bond with one another at all. Other animals with same-sex but not opposite-sex pairings (often in the form of companionships) include Musk-oxen, Wapiti, White-tailed Deer, Warthogs, Cheetahs, Eastern Gray Kangaroos, Red Squirrels, and Calfbirds.