INTRODUCTION
The Big Gay Animal Tour is an illustrated information zine
that can be used in the Field Museum as a tour of animals that exhibit
homosexual behavior! The Zine itself takes you on a walk from the Elephants in
Stanley Field Hall, and through the What Is an Animal exhibit and various
taxidermy exhibits on the ground floor of the Field Museum. At each stop you
can learn how the animal in front of you is gay, bi, queer, whatever! The idea
of this tour is to highlight just a few of the MANY examples of same sex
behavior in nature and briefly discuss how same sex behavior and natural
selection relate to one another. This zine was created by Isabella Rotman as
part of her Animal Sex series, a group of small comic books highlighting
strange animal mating behaviors. Isabella Rotman is a cartoonist living in
Chicago Il, and her work can be seen as ThisMightHurt.Tumblr.com.
~ The printable PDF can be downloaded HERE.
Some sample images from the pamphlet and project:
REFERENCES
Bagemihl, Bruce. Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality
and Natural Diversity. New York: St. Martin's, 1999. Print.
"Strange Animal
Behavior: Well-known Homosexual Species." Bukisa. N.p., 8 May 2009. Web.
04 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.bukisa.com/articles/88711_strange-animal-behavior-well-known-homosexual-species>.
"The Only Gay in the Zoo: Meet Ninio the Male Elephant
with No Interest in Ladies."Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2012.
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1169026/The-gay-zoo-Meet-Ninio-male-elephant-ladies.html>
Brennan, Zoe. "Lesbian Albatrosses, Gay Giraffes and
Some Very Open-minded Penguins. So, Can Animals Really Be Gay?" Mail
Online. N.p., 18 May 2012. Web. Feb. 2012.
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1279241/Lesbian-albatrosses-gay-giraffes-open-minded-penguins-So-animals-really-gay.html>.
Miller, Jonathan. "New Love Breaks Up a 6-Year
Relationship at the Zoo." The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Sept.
2005. Web. 05 Dec. 2012.
Mooallem, Jon.
"THE LOVE THAT DARE NOT SQUAWK ITS NAME." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 04 Apr. 2010. Web. Feb. 2012.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/magazine/04animals-t.html?pagewanted=al>.
Roughgarden, Joan. Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender,
and Sexuality in Nature and People. Berkeley: University of California, 2004.
Print
"Homosexual Behavior: Animal Kingdom." Scienceray
RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2012.
<http://scienceray.com/biology/zoology/homosexual-behavior-animal-kingdom/>.
Vasey, Paul L. "Same Sex Partner Preference in
Hormonally and Neurologically Unmanipulated Animals." Ebsco. Columbia
College Chicago, 2003. Web. 22 Nov. 2012.
Smith, Dinitia. "Central Park Zoo's Gay Penguins Ignite
Debate." SFGate. San Francisco Chronical, 7 Feb. 2004. Web. 05 Dec. 2012.























