Is it really unnatural?

A pukeko

OK, so normally I find biology OK, usually a little boring as it isn't all about dissection but more heavily based around patterns of behaviour and learning definitions (maybe it's just my class?). However, a few weeks ago we were watching a video to do with native New Zealand birds. For those of you who do not know where New Zealand is, we are a tiny country of about 4 million people just next to Australia. No, we are not Australians either!



Well it started off like most nature films: Couple of clips of swimming birds, a few chicks, maybe some nesting behaviour. All pretty dull until a girl exclaimed "How can that be? It isn't natural". It turns out that this was when the tape revealed that pukekos (Maori for "Swamp Hen") indulge in a variety of sexual pleasures including lesbianism, homosexuality, orgies and generic hetero-sexual partnering.

She could not believe that something she perceived as unnatural actually occurred in nature and had done so for a period of years. Not only were the birds alright, but they were thriving, but yet they were not conforming to the two basic epithets of biology, namely:

1) Ensure continuation through breeding.
2) Survive long enough to ensure that the next generation survives.

She had followed the path of "If all the pukekos are homosexual, then no new eggs will be laid, therefore no chicks will hatch, therefore the species will die out". 

However, the presence of homosexual individuals actually provides many benefits to their communal groups. 

They help control population size, they help look after the young and they help defend territory.

By not producing offspring, homosexual birds within the groups help to reduce the food requirement of the group, thus limiting the need for resources and ensuring sustainability as the group is unlikely to outgrow what their habitat can safely produce. 

The communal nature of their flock also means that chicks are not reared by their parents, but that all birds actively participate in the protection and rearing of the young. Non-fertile relationships within the group thus contribute to the next generation by ensuring that there is a smaller offspring: adult ratio, thereby providing each pukeko with proportionately more adults than other birds. This logically means that, with more caregivers, each chick should receive more food, thus growing stronger and fitter within a shorter period of time. This makes the bird fitter for survival, fulfilling one of the basic tenants of Darwinism, the survival of the fittest. 

Secondly, with more adults who are not strictly required for childcare, pukekos are able to devote a greater number of birds to defense of their territory, protecting their food supplies from other birds as well as their young from predators. If this communal, semi-homosexual lifestyle did not exist, it is possible that these group dynamics would not have occurred, thus altering the ecological niche of these birds.

As a society, we can learn much from these "lesser" creatures. Many religious people say that gays or lesbians are unnatural because they cannot give birth to children. We don't need more children in our society, a society filled with millions of those that are starving and illiterate. Perhaps what we need are MORE gays, to provide a greater student: teacher ratio, to take in those with-out and to help us protect our children from our greatest danger: ourselves.