Strewth! Australia rocked by 'lesbian' koala revelation

Female koalas indulge in lesbian "sex sessions", rejecting male suitors and attempting to mate with each other, sometimes up to five at a time, according to researchers.


The furry, eucalyptus-eating creatures appear to develop this tendency for same-sex liaisons when they are in captivity. In the wild, they remain heterosexual.

Scientists monitoring the marsupials with digital cameras counted three homosexual interactions for every heterosexual one.

"Some females rejected the advances of males that were in their enclosures, only to become willing participants in homosexual encounters immediately after," say the researchers.

"On several occasions more than one pair of females shared the same pole, and multiple females mounted each other simultaneously. At least one multiple encounter involved five female koalas."

One theory put forward by the researchers is that the females do it to attract males; another is that it is simply hormonal, or that it is a stress reliever.

Scientists from the University of Queensland studied 130 koalas in captivity and will publish their results in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

"Our aim was to determine the extent of differences in the homosexual and heterosexual behaviour of female koalas and thereby to determine the purpose of female homosexual behaviour in the koala," say the researchers.

"Wild koalas brought into captivity clearly display homosexual behaviour on a regular basis. A total of 15 heterosexual and 43 homosexual interactions were recorded in separate animals. Homosexual behaviour was restricted to females only. Heterosexual encounters were typically twice as long as homosexual encounters," they add.

Strewth! Australia rocked by 'lesbian' koala revelation

Female green winged macaws at Taronga Zoo are lesbians

ONE'S butch and one's feminine - but these birds of a feather are definitely flocking together.

The female green winged macaws are in a relationship at Taronga Zoo and as far as nature is concerned, comic Jerry Seinfeld was right: 'There's nothing wrong with that."

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Homosexuality in animals is surprisingly common and has been highlighted by a dilemma facing UK conservationists, who are trying to breed rare blue ducks.

They have just three - two males and a female - but the problem is the blokes prefer their own company.

Keepers at the Arundel Wetland Centre in West Sussex have now given up all hope of the ducks breeding, and say the species, originally a New Zealand river dweller, will soon become extinct in Britain.

Taronga Zoo also has a problem: the two female macaws - parrots from South America - think the male in their enclosure is a bit of a wimp.

"The two females have paired up and one is submissive while the other is more dominant, masculine in behaviour," senior bird keeper Richard Matkovics said yesterday.

The macaws, like most parrots, are genetically programmed for companionship - and it appears the two Taronga females followed their instincts and bonded back when they were in a different enclosure.

When they were put in a new enclosure and introduced to the younger male, they stayed together.

Homosexuality has been observed in more than 1500 animal species.

It is often the result of too many males and too few females in a group, or a dominant male refusing younger males access to females.

While some juveniles grow out of it, animals that live a completely homosexual life can also be found, particularly among birds that will pair with one partner for life.

But the dwarf chimp or bonobo is possibly the gayest animal.

Almost all bonobos, one of human's closest relatives, are bisexual and more than 75 per cent of bonobo sex is not for reproduction.

Female green winged macaws at Taronga Zoo are lesbians