The “Against Nature?” museum exhibit, supported by the Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority, opened on October 12, 2006, at the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo in Norway.

The exhibit puts on display a small selection among the more than 1500 species where homosexuality have been observed. This fascinating story of the animals’ secret life is told by means of models, photos, texts and specimens. The visitor will be confronted with all sorts of creatures from tiny insects to enormous spermwhales.

MSNBC.com reported on the exhibit today:

“Homosexuality” and “heterosexuality” are terms defined by societal boundaries, invisible in the animal kingdom.

“Many species are hermaphrodites,” [Project Coordinator] Bockman said. Hermaphrodites have both male and female sex organs. A lot of marine species have no sex life at all, but just squirt their eggs or semen into sea.

Some creatures even reproduce asexually, by dividing themselves into two organisms. In one species of gecko, females clone themselves.

Like most complex issues, animal homosexuality is challenging and poorly understood. Therefore, educators tend to shy away from covering it in their teaching. Many scientists don’t even want to be associated with this type of research.

“I’ve had primatologists offer to give me their data on homosexual behavior because they didn’t want to publish it,” Wolfe [(head of the Anthropology Department at East Carolina University)] said.

“Against Nature?” was set up partly to demystify the concept.

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