Queer Natural History

G16 Lecture Theatre
Sir Alexander Fleming Building, Imperial College London
 
How gay is nature, really? Some estimates suggest 1,500 species of animals show some form of homosexual behaviour: from Hawaiian orb weaver spiders to the Humbolt squid and brown bears. However, given these 1500 species span almost every branch on the tree of life, this figure is likely a massive underestimate – a gap in our knowledge not helped by the efforts of some science and scientists to cover up or ignore its existence.
 
In his book ‘A Little Gay Natural History’, Josh Davis, a science writer for the Natural History Museum, highlights the sheer diversity of non-heteronormative biology and behaviours that exist in the natural world.
 
Josh will share some favourite examples from his book, including the moral outrage around lesbian gulls, while explaining his motivations for telling this story, such as tackling head on the astonishing diversity of sexual behaviour that exists in nature when it "appears to go against evolution?"