Gay animals loving each other in the open. Norway offers a museum with 51 species of homosexual animals.

In the first exhibit of it’s kind, the University of Oslo’s Natural History Museum presents 51 species of animals exhibiting homosexuality. The display is called “Against Nature?”

“Homosexuality has been observed in more than 1,500 species, and the phenomenon has been well described for 500 of them,” said Petter Bockman, project coordinator of the exhibition.

MSNBC.com adequately points out that “homosexuality” and “heterosexuality” are terms defined by societal boundaries, invisible in the animal kingdom.

“I think to some extent people don’t think it’s important because we went through all this time period in sociobiology where everything had to be tied to reproduction and reproductive success,” said Linda Wolfe, who heads the Department of Anthropology at East Carolina University. “If it doesn’t have [something to do] with reproduction it’s not important.”

Others believe that being gay or bisexual allows animals to join packs or groups more easily. Same-sex unions can be used for alliance and protection. The diversity allows them to gather strength in groups – and to survive encounters with predators. To keep pace with evolution.

The argument that a homosexual way of living cannot be accepted because it is against the “laws of nature” can now be rejected scientifically, said Geir Soli, project leader for the exhibition.

Photo: Colin M. Burnett / Milwaukee County Zoo