# Gay Sheep? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 9, 2002, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042 "2002-11-09T17:43:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astroKnotx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@astroKnotx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astroKnotx)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/1 "2002-11-09T17:43:49Z")
(Read the article [here](http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20021104/sc_nm/science_sheep_dc_1) ) ``` At first I thought it was a joke. We're experimenting on homosexual animals to learn why people are homosexual? I didn't know animals could even have a sexual preference. I can see it on the cover of NEWSWEEK now, "GAY SHEEP: The secret world of Baa-aad animals" What will knowledge of an animal's sexual preference do for society? ``` ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/2 "2002-11-09T18:00:03Z")
> [@](#): > > _From the article linked to in the OP_ > “We are not trying to explain human sexuality by this study,” Charles Roselli, a professor of physiology and pharmacology who led the study, said in a telephone interview. “Whether this is a big component of what contributes in humans, that’s still debatable.” This sort of research may lead to insights into human behavior, or it may not. Human beings _are_ animals, so studying other animals (and especially other mammals) can sometimes tell us things about ourselves. Also, sex is something that goes pretty deep into the pre-human parts of ourselves. However, our ancestors diverged from those of sheep a long time ago, so it’s not like you can just immediately generalize from sheep to people, and no one seems to be saying that you can. Scientists have to study a lot of different things in order to make basic advances in knowledge. Some of those things will really pan out, and some will forever be interesting footnotes, and you generally can’t tell which is going to be which very easily before you start. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/3 "2002-11-09T18:09:23Z")
You’ve never heard of lesbian seagulls? ---
**Author:** ![P.F.I.B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df788c/32.png) [@P.F.I.B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P.F.I.B)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/4 "2002-11-09T18:46:51Z")
In science class a while ago, we saw this video about deep sea animals. And amazingly, there was erm… a clip about two different species of male octopuses “coupling.” My science teacher said that the most amazing thing about it was not that they were both male (it happens often in the animal kingdom), but that they are from two different species. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/5 "2002-11-09T19:01:32Z")
It seems to me that interspecies mating is quite common between humans and sheep based on the repeated allusions to it that I’ve heard over the years. ---
**Author:** ![spacevacuum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@spacevacuum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spacevacuum)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/6 "2002-11-09T19:11:08Z")
I thought that the point of this study is that the authors compared certain structures in the brains of homo- and heterosexual sheep and found consistent differences (they’re trying to relate behavior to physiology). Your chances of getting groups of homo- and heterosexual humans in good health to volunteer to have their brains dissected are not high. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/7 "2002-11-09T21:51:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by grienspace \* > \*\*It seems to me that interspecies mating is quite common between humans and sheep based on the repeated allusions to it that I’ve heard over the years. \*\* I feel a Utah joke coming on… “Utah! Where men are men, and sheep are nervous.” ---
**Author:** ![Freyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freyr/32/5763_2.png) [@Freyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freyr)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/8 "2002-11-09T21:52:33Z")
_Gay sheep, the men who love them and the furious wives who are left behind!!_, next on Geraldo! While looking for such differences in brain structure is interesting, it needs to be noted that only humans **enculturate** themselves (use learned symbols to detirmine their own behavior). Finding out which behaviors are learned and which ones are instinctual (in humans) would be a good starting place. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-sheep/136042/9 "2002-11-09T22:33:27Z")
“Utah! Where, when they speak of having a black sheep in the family, they _mean_ it.” OK, I’ll stop now, I promise.