All language subtitles for Queer.Planet.2024.2160p.4K.WEB.x265.10bit.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]_track3_[eng]

[Narrator] Few animals can
survive the harsh winter

of the Rocky Mountains.

But one icon
of the west thrives here.

300 lb of rugged
all-American muscle

topped off with four feet
of rock hard horn.

There's no prizes
for guessing their name.

Big horn sheep.

The battle lines are drawn.

To the victor...

go the spoils.

But this isn't
a film about that.

This is a film about
something else entirely.

Love and family,
in all of their forms.

These two males
might be fighters,

but they're also lovers.

You think you know nature?
Think again.

Our planet is home to
over 11 million species.

Each with their own
way of being.

From flamboyantly gay flamingos,

to pansexual primates.

Sex-changing clown fish,
to multi-gendered mushrooms,

and everything in-between.

Nature is more queer than
you could possibly imagine,

but don't take my word for it.

Take theirs.

And also, theirs.

Ready.

My name is
Dr. Christine Wilkinson.

-Dr. Ross Brooks.
-Antonia Forster.

-Bradley Trevor Grieve.
-I'm a mycologist.

A tropical marine ecologist.

I'm a senior lecturer
in natural history.

The founder and director
of The Vagina Museum.

[Narrator] Together, we'll be
going on a global search

for queerness that goes
far beyond our human definition.

We'll be bucking gender norms,
breaking taboos,

and switching sexes
as we uncover the reasons

why we know so little
about how nature truly is.

Queerness is abundant in nature.

Queerness practically is nature.

I like the word queer
because it defies boxes.

It gives you the flexibility

to be able to run
the gamut of behaviors.

It's love, diversity,
and the most extraordinary

complex relationships
you can possibly imagine.

When it comes to what
Mother Nature intended,

she was pretty open-minded.

If you're judgmental,
prudish or squeamish

then brace yourself,
because this is a queer planet.

[lion roars]

[Narrator] And there's only one
place to start a trip like this.

New York, New York.

A city of fame,
fortune, acceptance...

and even love.

Where Broadway dreams
really can come true.

Even for a boy from Nebraska.

But this year's hot queer power
couple are Elmer and Lima

and we've got a tour of their
fabulous upstate New York pad.

The only catch...

they're not people,
they're penguins.

Contrary to the gay agenda,
life isn't one big pool party.

[Debbie] Penguins on
average will defecate

every five to seven minutes,

so that's great
job security or us.

There's a lot of cleaning
that goes into the exhibit.

[Narrator] Debbie's been
looking after the penguins

at Rosamond Gifford Zoo
for the past 14 years.

Hi, Vente, good boy.

[Narrator] But
it's the first time

she has had a penguin couple
like these guys.

[Debbie] Elmer and Lima,
characteristic wise,

they generally
can be very goofy.

They love kind of
exploring in piles of rocks

and picking them up and bringing
them to various locations,

so they're actually
quite easy going

but also very curious
and just playful.

[Narrator] They
are also very gay.

They formed
a bond with each other

about a couple of years ago
and through that

we started showing
signs increasingly

that their bond was becoming
stronger and ultimately

they built a territory together,

then subsequently
built a nest together.

Elmer and Lima are special in
the fact that they are two males

that together were successfully
able to raise a chick.

[Narrator] Humboldt penguins
stay monogamous for life,

unlike half of West Hollywood.

And like many families,
these two decided to adopt.

But despite clearly living
a successful gay lifestyle,

critics say this is only
because they're in captivity.

I mean, come on.

One of the disparaging comments
you'll hear from people

who don't know
anything about nature,

is that the reason
there are gay couples

is that there's not enough
of the opposite sex.

It's just not true.

They choose
the partner that they want.

So seeing
queer behavior in the zoos

is actually quite common.

It's been observed in many
different zoos over the world,

both between
two males and two females.

It's been shown
that about 5% of pairings,

with pair bonding is actually
among same sex partners,

and up to 10%
or 12% of copulations

occur between same sex partners.

But that kind of behavior
doesn't just happen there,

it's just that
it's more visible there.

[Narrator] These two wouldn't be
stuck in the closet in the wild,

but that's not common knowledge.

It is extraordinary
that today still many people

do not know about
queerness in animals.

Queer behavior in nature

has been known about
for a very long time.

[Narrator] So why do people
know so little about it?

Not everybody's happy to hear
that big horn sheep are "gay,"

or that male penguins
are rearing offspring together,

and that can be very hard
on the researchers.

They can be ridiculed,
they can be ostracized,

their work can be buried.

[Narrator] But
the big queer truth

is out there
if you're willing to look.

All of the science that
we're talking about,

about queerness in nature
is based on

actual scientists' observations
and studies in the field.

[Narrator] But finding some
action or observing in the wild,

it's not as easy as it sounds.

As this male king penguin
knows all too well.

After a week of hunting at sea,
he's headed back to shore,

fighting the wind and waves.

[Bradley] That great southern
ocean area of the subantarctic

has to be one of the toughest
places in the world

to do anything,
let alone live a normal life.

[Narrator] So for
these beefy birds,

love doesn't come easy.

King penguins spend
some portion of their time

hunting for fish, swimming,

but a large majority of their
time is spent standing around

in large colonies
in their own poo.

[Narrator] Wildly enough,
poo is the least of his worries.

He has to find his mate at
the largest circuit party ever.

And king penguins
are practically identical,

male and female.

[Antonia] Imagine you're
standing in a football field

looking for your partner,

but there are
thousands of individuals,

they all look like your partner,

and they're all shouting
at the same time.

It's pretty challenging.

[Narrator] The problem
with penguins is,

like that one friend after
a bottomless mimosa brunch,

they wander off.

They get lost.

Start fights.

Luckily, like the wise
Kelly Clarkson once sang,

nature has prepared him
for a moment like this.

So in penguins
finding a mate is about

tuning in and becoming in sync.

At the beginning of the season,

king penguins spent
a lot of time bonding,

engaging in small dances,

and getting to know
each other's voices really well.

So that when they come back
from a trip and they're faced

with thousands
of identical individuals,

they're able to pick out
the voice of their partner

above the noise of the crowd.

[penguin call]

[penguin call]

[Narrator] Though
slightly off tune,

he tracks his partner's voice.

And he's reunited again.

They take the time
to dance once more...

But he's not dancing with a she.

So wild king penguins,
in a 2010 study,

was found that no less than
28% of the initial pair bondings

at the beginning
of the breeding season,

was between
mates of the same sex.

Having same-sex partnerships
in king penguins

is really important
to the colony,

and that's because
raising an egg

in such hostile conditions
is incredibly difficult.

It can't be left alone
or it will freeze or break,

and sometimes there
are eggs that don't have

a pair caring for them.

So a same sex pair
will take an abandoned egg,

and raise it
to a healthy individual

which can then join the group.

[Narrator] Despite how often
this occurs,

studies on queer behavior
like this

are unfortunately
few and far between.

[Martin] So, king penguins live
in the harshest of environments.

Being on land
in perpetual winter,

they will have to endure
strong winds,

really chilled temperatures,
and just a very harsh place.

So in nature it's hard to study.

[Narrator] But harsh climate
isn't the only reason

these observations are rare.

[Narrator] Half a world away,
Africa's wildlife

never ceases
to amaze and surprise.

[Antonia] If you were a tourist
in Africa on safari,

you might see some things
that you weren't expecting.

[African music plays]

The plains of Africa
are alive with the sights

and sounds
of same-sex relationships.

[Narrator] These two male lions
are no exception.

The paparazzi really are
everywhere, aren't they?

One of the great cliches in
natural history is the lion

being the king of the jungle.

But the notion
of a proud be-maned lion,

looking over his
harem of lionesses is,

I mean, it's only a fleeting
part of that animal's life.

Coalition of male lions
might only be able to take over

a pride and mate with
the females for about two,

two-and-a-half years.

Effectively male lions might
only have that one chance

to reproduce
for their entire lives.

They have really beautiful
social bonds amongst themselves,

so you'll have groups of two
or three or maybe even more

male lions that travel together
in what's called a coalition,

that they spend
most of their time in.

[Narrator] Lion bromances are
a long-standing intimate affair.

[Christine] So when I was doing
my research out in Kenya,

I would always see
this coalition of male lions

cuddling with one another,

right there on my doorstep
every morning.

And those males, as far as we
know, are still together today.

They bond with one another

through a number
of various activities

like nuzzling one another,

and cuddling with one another,

and even mounting one another...

That's never shown
in the popular media.

[Narrator] And there's
an intriguing reason why.

In a lot of places, being
queer or being gay is illegal,

so it's very difficult to try
and do science around

these sorts of queer animals.

[Narrator] Which gives a skewed
perspective on their lifestyles,

because male lions
need to stick together.

For a solitary lion,

the plains
are a dangerous place.

[Christine] Many animals
face risks from spotted hyenas,

and African lions
are no exception.

[Narrator] Caught out
on his own,

this young male is in trouble.

[hyenas barking]

[Christine] And they're gonna
go for the soft bits.

They're gonna try and grab
you by your genitalia.

[Narrator] How rude!

Luckily for him,

even a pack of hyena
are no match

for an all-male coalition.

The fitness of a male lion
is a lot higher

when he's working with
other male lions in a coalition.

[lion groans]

[Christine] He is able to better
defend himself, work together,

and defend each other.

[lions groan, hyenas bark]

[Narrator] Together they are
able to survive, thrive,

and bond like the proud
kings they truly are.

But they are far from
being the only queer animals

on the plains.

[Antonia] The natural world
is incredibly queer

and animals don't
prejudice against that.

There's a lot of
homosexual behavior

and it's only in humans that
we have such a stigma about it.

[Narrator] In an unexpected
plot twist,

in some species not being queer
makes you the exception.

Giraffe are sort of famous

for having a very, very,
very high incidence

of same sex behavior,
especially among male giraffes.

Giraffes are super queer.

That's the best way
I can describe them.

[Narrator] Scientists aren't
exactly sure why this is,

but traveling
in large same-sex herds

means that fights among
the young males are common.

And they found
a uniquely queer way

to settle their differences
and bond together.

[Antonia] Giraffes engage
in a behavior called necking,

which involves rubbing their
necks on each other's bodies

and slamming their head
into each other.

And sometimes that
seems to be aggressive.

But in other times it
seems to be a type of foreplay

because it's also followed
by things like mounting

and orgasms.

One out of every four matings
you're seeing

actually males
mounting each other.

Most male giraffes
will get up to

some sort of same-sex behavior
throughout their lives,

some more consistently
than others.

[Antonia] Gay interactions
between giraffes

have been explained away
as a mistake,

or as lack of access to females

but actually
we've seen it directly,

even when there
are females present.

So if you saw two human males
having sex with one another,

you wouldn't say
that it's dominance,

so why is it that when
we're looking at animals

like giraffe or lions,

that we always wanna say
that it's dominance,

why can't it be something else?

[Narrator] So despite
the difficulty in studying them,

it's clear that there
are plenty of gay animals.

But it begs the question,
are there any lesbians?

[Narrator] Japan,
a country of beauty, tradition,

fabulous sushi,

and a troop of macaques
who skipped gay ski week

to find another way
to stay warm in the snow.

[macaques squeal]

[Florence] During the winter,

they will spend a lot of their
time in these hot springs.

It's very, very cold in Japan
around that time of year,

and they also
use the opportunity

to bond with each other,

and to spend time with
other members of their tribe.

[Narrator] But fitting in
isn't always easy.

This young female needs
to do some networking.

Don't get your phone wet!

[Florence] Japanese macaques
are very matriarchal

so their hierarchy is really
dependent on making these bonds.

[Narrator] But in macaques,
it's not about being a dom.

Intimacy is key to
building strong relationships.

[Florence] Japanese macaques
are extremely lesbian.

The females are constantly
having relationships

with other females,
often if they're given a choice

between having a relationship
with a male or with a female,

they'll pick the female.

[Amy] Macaques are
a species where

it's been shown
that females can have orgasms.

They measure
things like uterine contractions

and blood flow and heart rate

and those things line up
with the experience

that human females
are having during orgasm,

so it's possible that they just
like mounting each other

purely
for the sexual satisfaction.

[Narrator] What better way
to spend a day

than in a hot spa
with your new partner.

Macaques, lions, giraffes

and even penguins all show
lesbian or gay behaviors

and they aren't alone.

More than 1500 different
species have shown to engage

in homosexual or pansexual,
bisexual behaviors.

[Amy] We find it throughout
the animal kingdom

in all kinds of circumstances,

and it seems not to be
something that your learn

or that's an influence
that comes from other people,

but something
that's more innate than that.

Queer sex is so omnipresent,

so universal in every
stratum of life on Earth

that it's absolutely clear

this is what nature
has always intended.

[Narrator] If we know
that queerness in nature

is so widespread,
then why has it been trapped

in the closet for so long?

Like many unpleasant secrets,

the answer can be found
in a museum in England.

[Bradley] Queer behavior's
been prevalent

since the dawn of time.

One of the great agonies in
my life, and I'm sure yours,

is I've never seen
a dinosaur penis.

[Narrator] Well some things
have been sadly lost

to the passage of time.

One man's journals reveal why
queer research remained buried.

George Murray Levick
was a Navy man,

but he was also a biologist

around the beginning
of the twentieth century.

Levick went to
a part of Antarctica

called Victoria Lands,

and in particular
the colony of Adelie penguins.

He was kind of marooned there
for about nine months.

[Narrator] But what he found
was unexpected.

Animals of the same sex
having sex with each other,

and that really
weirded him out.

He did not like it at all.

Levick's notebooks
are absolutely fascinating,

particularly when he's recording

the sexual habits
of these animals.

At some point, he starts
writing in the Greek alphabet.

At other points, he goes back
to text written in English

and pastes over them with
the text re-written in Greek

so that others who are not elite

physicians or scientists
who can understand Greek,

that they won't understand
the really rude bits.

[Antonia] I think people aren't
aware of queer behaviors

in the animal kingdom because,
historically,

it's either been suppressed

or been considered
too taboo to publish.

So this is a very typical
example of how knowledge

of queer bodies and queer
behaviors in nature gets lost,

and certainly growing up
gay in the 1970s and '80s,

there was nothing like this
in the nature books that I read

or on the nature programs
that I saw on the television.

It's knowledge that has been
almost completely lost.

[Narrator] But that is all
starting to change.

New research is uncovering
just how queer nature is.

Across the world, it's being
celebrated with pride.

[Latin music]

As the rainbow rolls
across the globe,

in Mexico
things are just getting started.

Over 20,000 people
have shown up in Merida

to show their true colors,

and their best
ga-ga choreography.

But they aren't
the only ones dancing.

On a nearby salt lake,

an iconic bisexual bird is about
to shake its tail feathers.

[birds squawking]

[Bradley] The Yucatan
in eastern Mexico

is probably one of my
favorite places on the planet;

so many distinct ecosystems.

And one of the most
extraordinary are these

incredibly salty lagoons.

Very shallow.
Gets very, very hot.

The water is basically toxic
to just about anything

and yet these
flamboyant filter feeders

come honking
in there and just thrive.

[Narrator] As
the summer heats up,

a young flamingo
is looking for a mate.

Male or female.

And like so many of us,
she does this by dancing.

Like a troop
of soggy salsa dancers

on a swampy stage,

they line up.

Wow, that was a mouthful.

You have this bright pink bird
with a bizarre looking bill,

a hook, beautiful curved neck

and strutting around
like a prima ballerina.

They all flock in one direction,

turn their head and all
flock in the other direction.

[flamingos squawking]

[Antonia] They're looking for
an individual

that is in sync with them,

that might be
appropriate to mate with.

[Narrator] The young flamingo
has found her perfect partner...

But despite mating
and building a nest,

these two ladies
won't have an egg of their own.

However, this queer couple's
time to shine

will come soon enough.

Flamingos have no teeth,
claws or natural defenses

which makes them very,
very jumpy.

[Antonia] So if
there is something

that is presenting
a danger to them,

their first port of call
is to run away.

And that's a big problem
because that means

all of the eggs and young
are left behind and abandoned.

[Narrator] And when
the panic's over,

it's down to the young couple

to pick up the pieces
and adopt an egg.

You might think
that gay animals,

because they can't
have their own kids,

are somehow less successful
in the natural world.

But actually we know
that there are many examples

of same sex partnerships
that have wonderful outcomes

and high success rates
for their offspring.

[Narrator] Unlike the penguins,

love for a flamingo
is a fleeting summer thing.

Flamingos are
sequential monogamists,

so what that means
is they'll pair up for a season

then new year, new guy.

A 2006 study showed
that up to 35% of the birds

formed relationships
that were not

the typical male-female pair.

There might have been
two males pairing up,

two females pairing up,
two females and a male,

two males and a female
or even four of them together.

[Narrator] So when
the chicks are raised,

they move on, and find
a new partner or partners

the next year.

Male or female,
it makes little difference

to these beautiful
bisexual birds.

I think humans
can all agree with each other

that sex is not
just for reproduction.

Sex is for pleasure,
it's for social bonding.

Some animals, God bless them,

are not in any way
shy about their sexual appetite

and sexually active animals
have three things in common.

They're biologically young,
they're generally single,

and they're not wearing pants.

[Narrator] Across the globe,
in the jungles of Africa,

the animals certainly aren't shy
about what they want.

Jungles, reefs and other
environments are so loud

because every animal there
is calling out to find a mate.

[animal sounds]

All those calls through the
jungle, it's like advertising,

"Hey, I'm DTF."

Basically, like,
a really audible Tinder profile.

* Please have sex with me. *

[Narrator] We've already met
some gay, lesbian

and bisexual animals.

Now it's time to meet
a tribe of pansexual primates

that are always swiping right.

Unlike us, these matriarchal
apes use sex to solve

all their issues.

Like that one friend
during pride month.

Critically endangered
in the wild,

they've continued their
sexual habits in sanctuaries.

Every bonobo has sex
with both males and females

of multiple ages, and sometimes
multiple partners at once.

And so this real rainbow
of diversity

in terms of who
they will have sex with

and in the combinations
that they'll use.

[Narrator] But it isn't
all fun and games.

With over a hundred members of
the tribe to keep fed and happy,

there's some
serious socializing to do.

They settle almost all of
their differences sexually.

So we have make up sex,

they have,
let's resolve this sex

and get back to having
normal celebratory food sex

and then, after sex sex,

and a quickie
just on top of that.

[Peer Gynt:
Hall of the Mountain King]

The human equivalent of bonobo
society would be having sex

to say thank you,
having sex to say sorry,

having sex to say can I steal
a bit of your dinner?

They're very promiscuous

and they're very free
with sharing their love.

[Peer Gynt: Hall of
the Mountain King crescendos]

[Narrator] Mass pansexual
orgy complete,

food distributed,
time for a nap.

Animals that have a lot of sex
tend to have less war.

I don't know how that
extrapolates to human society,

but to be honest

we should all probably get
laid a little more than we do.

[Narrator] All animals
might not embrace sex

as vigorously as bonobos,

but they certainly
found countless ways

to get their rocks off.

Literally.

Animals have a much
shorter life span than us,

generally speaking,

and that means that their
window for carnal pleasure

and reproduction,
is even tighter.

Dolphins have almost
every sexual behavior

you can imagine,
and they've probably invented

some that humans haven't.

We see things like
males having sex,

females having sex
with each other,

and also masturbation using
things like inanimate objects,

or even dead fish or eels.

People masturbate,
animals masturbate.

They love it.

Some of them go beyond that
and build their own sex toys.

Now, there are a number
of monkeys and ferrets

who will use a beautiful soft,
smooth pebble as a vibrator.

[Narrator] Despite all
the clearly abundant

queer sex
and diversity in nature,

some folks still cling
to the idea it is unnatural.

So where does that
stigma come from?

The answer, once again,

lies partly in the notes
of an old white Victorian man.

Charles Darwin
is the most famous biologist

who has ever lived.

A very, very famous man
whose name was known

all over the world

and his legacy
lives on to this very day.

[Narrator] But it
isn't all positive.

Oh God, Darwin.

Charles Darwin made fantastic
contributions to science,

but he did have
some blind spots.

Darwin was an incredible
revolutionary mind of his time,

but he was of his time.

And queerness at
that time wasn't something

that people were talking about.

[Narrator] So for the most part,

he didn't,
which left a troubled legacy.

Today we talk about people
living in the closet.

I think it's perfectly
reasonable to say that Darwin's

writings and much of his
science, was kept in the closet.

Darwin imbued his texts

with the gendered
stereotypes of his age.

Images of fussy female birds
and aggressive male beetles.

[Narrator] And when he did
write about queerness,

urgh, it was worse.

So here's an example of Darwin
referring to queer behaviors

in very negative language.

He writes in The Descent of Man,

"The greatest intemperance
is no reproach with savages.

Utter licentiousness
and unnatural crimes prevail

to an astounding extent."

So when you have one of the most
famous men on the planet

referring to queer sex

as "utter licentiousness
and unnatural crimes"

well that's not something that's
easy to fight back against.

For better or worse, our society
has been heavily influenced

by the Victorian era.

[Narrator] But you can only deny
true nature for so long.

Biological reality explodes the
Victorian hetero-nomative myth.

Life if much more complex,
beautifully complex

than you've been led to believe.

[Narrator] Darwin may have
placed gender roles

on animals
that mimicked our own,

but take a closer look at nature

and you'll soon discover,

it couldn't care less
what we think.

We've seen plenty
of gay animals,

but back in Mexico,
one polyamorous bird

is doing its best to upset
all our gender norms.

Polyamorous wanacracker.

[Bradley] Jacanas are
a tropical wetlands bird.

Huge feet.

You know them immediately,
very hard to buy shoes.

[Narrator] But it isn't shoes
this Jacana is concerned with,

even though they should be...

They are on patrol.

Jacanas are
intensely territorial.

In most pairs or groups,
there's one larger individual

and they will roam around
the territory defending it

from other individuals
of the same sex.

[Narrator] This feisty bird
won't take prisoners.

[Jacanas cawing]

[Western-style music]

They have sharp spurs
on their feet and wings.

And they can fight to the death.

Now you might
assume that that territorial

aggressive individual
is the male, but you'd be wrong.

[Narrator] In jacanas,
the females are polyamorous

and wear the proverbial pants.

And this one is
asserting her dominance.

[Bradley] The libido
of the female jacana

is always dialed up to 11.

It's both exhausting
and inspiring

to even think about them.

Not only will they
successfully court and woo

a large number of males,
each of whom

is assigned to look
after a nest of her eggs,

they're not satisfied.

They want bigger
and better all the time.

So if they find
a male that they like

who's already nursing a clutch
of a rival female's eggs,

they will stomp on those eggs
and smash them to smithereens,

so the male is now unemployed,

looking for a new job.

Guess what, we have an opening
and it's very, very sexy.

[Narrator] With
her territory secure,

it's down to her harem
of males to raise the babies.

[Antonia] We often have
assumptions about animals,

particularly watching
this kind of behavior

that males are more territorial,
more aggressive,

and that females are more
responsible for raising young,

and that's definitely not the
case when it comes to jacanas.

[Narrator] These queer birds
flip the script

when it comes to who does what
in a relationship,

and with how many partners.

And there's nothing unusual
about that in nature.

Further along the coast,
some strange little horses

are bucking gender roles harder,

redefining
what it means to be male.

They live in mangrove swamps

where there are
these really big trees

with these huge, huge roots.

So they're quite magical,
quite mysterious looking.

[Narrator] The mangroves provide
a chic home for countless

aquatic oddities,

none more so...

than this male seahorse.

So seahorses
are really weird fish.

What they are is a fish where
its tail sort of disappeared,

turned into like
a gripping monkey tail,

so seahorses need something
to grab onto with their tails

so that they can stay
relatively sedentary.

Doesn't make sense really from,
I think,

a physics point of view.
That is what they do.

Bit awkward.

[Narrator] For
an aquatic animal,

he really is pretty
bad at swimming.

When you're surrounded by
predators, that's a problem.

[Christopher] They can't
cope with lots of currents,

lots of water movement.

[Florence] Seahorses are really
good at camouflaging themselves,

really good at hiding.

Of course they have to be if
they want to keep themselves

safe from predators.

But that does have
the side effect

of making it a bit harder
also to attract and find mates.

[Narrator] So when they do
stumble upon another seahorse,

they tend to get a bit clingy.

They create
monogamous pairs often for life,

and like all good relationships
that takes a bit of work.

Every morning they'll
meet each other and they will,

they'll actually do a dance
to sort of reinforce their bond

and what we find
is they let go of the thing

they're holding onto and they
can swim out into the water,

spiral around each other,

and just spend a lot of time
just basically being

near each other
reinforcing this pair bond.

It's really important
in these poor-swimming,

quite rare animals.

[Narrator] And it's during
this awkward, beautiful dance

that these queer little animals
get even queerer.

What's interesting
about seahorses is that

they buck the trend
of uh... who is pregnant.

Seahorses, when they mate,

will swim together
and then the female,

using an organ
called an over-positive,

which is a bit like
a penis for eggs,

will place them inside
the male's brood pouch

which is on his sort of
seahorse tummy.

[Narrator] She'll lay up to
1,000 eggs inside him,

and now it's his job
to carry them

until they're ready to hatch.

As humans, we tend to presume
that sex is male-female

and that birth is the female
giving birth to a live baby.

Seahorses are really unusual
among fish in the fact that

it's not the female
that has babies, it's the male.

So if we're thinking
of animals that flip

the traditional gender roles,

seahorses take the biscuit.

[Narrator] But
there is one animal

that takes gender inversion
and role-reversal

a step further.

And we've met them already...

Spotted hyenas.

Their ruthless cunning
is no laughing matter.

[hyenas barking]

People think that hyenas are
dirty and ugly and gross,

and that they are
only scavengers,

and they're always
eating a bunch of crap.

[flies buzzing]

But, honestly, that actually

couldn't be further
from the truth.

[Narrator] This clan
has a fresh carcass.

But this isn't a free for all.

The alpha eats first.

[Christine] According
to western society,

males need to be the biggest,

fattest, the strongest,
the ones in charge

but spotted hyenas upend that.

Spotted hyenas are
the opposite of that.

Females are in charge,

they're the ones that are
calling all the shots.

[Narrator] Their
body size is larger.

They're more aggressive.

They also have a penis.

Huh.

[Florence] It's very hard
to tell if a hyena

is female or male
by looking at their genitals.

You need to be
a particularly skilled scientist

to be able to
tell the difference,

and the reason for that

is because hyenas
have absolutely

massive, massive clitorises.

They actually look almost
indistinguishable from penises.

So spotted hyenas,
for those of us who know,

are famous for their genitalia.

So female hyenas have
what's called a pseudo-phallus.

In fact, the pseudo-phallus
is really, really amazing.

But also it does some
pretty incredible things.

[Narrator] Like get an erection?

Hyenas have the best genitals,

and I know that's a weird thing
to say, but it's true.

[Narrator] But they do have
some down sides.

The spotted hyena is
one of the only species,

if not the only species,
with an internal vaginal opening

so they have sex,
they pee and they give birth

through their clitoris basically

which, yes,
it sounds absolutely horrific

and it can be, in some cases.

[laughs]

[Narrator] Despite being bigger,
more aggressive

and having a larger phallus
than the males, atta girl,

these alpha females
are also incredible moms.

Raising even their
smallest female cub

to be dominant to all the males.

Spotted hyenas are in fact
the queens of the plains.

I would argue that they're
also in some ways

the kings of the plains as well.

[Narrator] These much maligned
and misunderstood animals

are just one more beautiful
feather in nature's queer cap.

And a reminder that
when it comes to family,

there's no such thing as normal.

I find studying
the natural world fascinating

because it helps us to
understand what could be,

rather than what is,

especially when we take learning
from that into the human world.

Nature is thrillingly inclusive
and profoundly tolerant,

and it has to be because
every niche in every behavior

in every species somehow

contributes
to all life on Earth.

We need everybody.
We need everything.

[Narrator] And that includes
a whole bunch of weird,

wonderful
and unsettling creatures.

You might not think
that queer insects exist

but, in fact,
within the insect world

there are loads and loads
of different ways of being

a gender or having sex.

You can add up all of the
different species of mammals,

of birds, of reptiles, fishes,

even things like worms
and slugs and snails,

and that number
doesn't come close

to the number of different ways
of being an insect.

[Narrator] Female hyenas
might run the show,

but one group of insects
have gone a step further.

They've gotten rid of
males almost entirely.

You find leaf cutter ants in
lush rain forest environments,

places like Costa Rica,
and they're very noticeable

because you might not see them

but you'll see little
pieces of leaf walking around

on the forest floor
or in the branches of trees.

[Narrator] There are
so many ants here

that they outnumber
every other species combined.

Although lots of people
find insects small and annoying,

they are insects.

This isn't planet of the apes.
This is planet of the bugs.

[Narrator] Millions of these
ants are basically cutting

and carrying literal tons
of leaves back to their nest,

but life isn't that simple.

Worker ants
are incredibly strong.

They chop pieces
of leaf and carry them,

which are up to 20 times
their own body weight

but, unfortunately,
they're also the target

of lots of different predators.
Everything is out to eat ants.

And so to try
to solve this problem,

the ants have evolved to have
guards within their own colony.

They're huge bruisers of ants.

They've got massive heads,
huge jaws and I can tell you

that they give
a really nasty pinch.

What's surprising is that
despite looking completely

different, those two ants are
nearly genetically identical.

They're both from the same
species, the same colony,

they're both female
and they're sisters.

[Narrator] In fact,
all the ants in the colony

are female.

It's a remarkable
asexual single gender society,

and you can't get
queerer than that.

The nest of a leaf cutter ant
is like a giant

subterranean society,

it's about all of these
individuals inside that colony

are female, and each one of them
has a slightly different role.

[Narrator] And at
the heart of the colony,

lies the queen.

[Antonia] The queen's job
is to lay eggs.

She lays up to 20 eggs
every minute,

which is nearly
30,000 eggs every day.

Every individual that you see,
those are all of her daughters.

The sex of an ant doesn't
depend on its sex chromosomes

but the number of copies
of chromosomes that it has.

So if a queen fertilizes an egg,
it becomes female,

and if she doesn't fertilize it,
it becomes male.

That also means
that male ants have no father.

[Narrator] Males are only
created once every year or two.

Their sole purpose is to
migrate to a new colony,

have sex with the queen
and add some genetic diversity.

[Tim] For a male ant,
life is kind of tough.

They don't last for very long,
most of them they die virgins.

[Narrator] The incredible thing
is ants aren't the only animals

to have single gender societies.

Bees...

Wasps...

Even termites all have
same sex families,

but it isn't just
insects who do this.

There are some incredible
mammal families too.

Like the one living beneath the
sandy soils of Southern Africa.

Okay, how to describe
a naked mole rat?

A naked mole rat looks
a lot like a human phallus.

They don't have any hair,
they're kind of wrinkly

and they have these giant teeth
that's not like a human phallus.

[Narrator] A penis with teeth.

No, thanks.

This male mole rate
might look remarkable

and remarkably familiar,

but his looks are not
the most unique thing about him.

Some of my favorite
qualities about these

extraordinary ugly
but emphasis on extraordinary

little mammals is that,
first of all,

they can tolerate
very low levels of oxygen.

They don't need to breathe
hardly at all.

Number two, they have
almost no pain receptors.

[Narrator] And, number three,
well, they behave

like a giant colony of insects.

Like ants, only the queen and
a couple of males ever have sex.

Basically you have
this queen mole rat

that is significantly bigger
and gets bigger every year

than all the other mole rats.

Everybody else,
asexual worker bees effectively

except they're little sort of
tiny fleshy beanbag mammals.

[Narrator] The queen's hormones
suppress the sex drive

of the rest of the colony,
stopping any infighting.

As a result,
they're highly inbred.

In fact, they're almost
clones of each other.

[Narrator] These super close
siblings cooperate to ensure

the colony can survive
the harsh desert environment.

Nature is full of surprises

and often not
what it seems to be.

That's the glorious
thing about it.

[Narrator] A lot has changed in
the past century since Darwin.

We've moved from the nuclear
norms of Queen Victoria,

to perfectly permed
Stepford wives.

Darling, you couldn't be clumsy.
You're perfect.

[Narrator] Free-loving hippies,
and into the modern millennia.

But we've also had time
to take a closer look at nature.

So many different ways
in the animal kingdom

of having a family.

One male and one female,
two males, two females,

groups of females,
groups of males, single parents.

There's so many
different ways to have a family.

[Narrator] It's taken us
quite a while

to catch up with the wild,

who have been happily raising
diverse families

for millions of years.

Normal does not exist anywhere,
especially not in nature,

and it doesn't
even exist among people.

[Narrator] We've seen
that animals can be gay,

bi, pan and even asexual.

So what other surprises
does this queer planet hold?

The best place to continue
our search for queerness

is one of the most diverse
habitats on the planet.

Fish are the most diverse group
of vertebrates on the planet.

Of things that have
got a backbone,

half of those things
on the planet are fishes.

[Narrator] Nearly 80%
of all animals

live in the ocean,

and they rarely
follow the rules...

especially when it comes to sex.

Take Hawksbill turtles.

This female is on
an epic migration

back to her birth place.

However, she wasn't born
a female, but intersex.

Neither male or female.

Her gender determined
by the environment.

They can't lay
their eggs under water,

so this female will
do so at night on land.

And that's no easy task

when you've got flippers
instead of feet.

Turtles have got to find
not only the right beach

to lay their eggs on,

but the right place
on that beach.

They've got to go up
the beach far enough,

so that the eggs don't
get swamped at high tide,

and they need to be able
to dig a hole deep enough

to maintain the temperature
that's good for the eggs.

[Narrator] Which is unfortunate
as the sea turtle's sex

is determined by temperature.

[Tim] If the temperature's low,
they turn into males.

If the temperature is high,
they turn into females

and there's a sweet spot
right in the middle

where you get some males
and some females,

the kind of normal way
of hatching as a turtle.

[Narrator] The sweet spot
is around 86 degrees.

3 degrees more, or less,

and they all end up
a single gender

but for the baby turtles

that's the least
of their worries right now.

First, they've got to
make it to the ocean.

And everything
wants to eat them.

[seagulls squawking]

In the entire life span
of a female turtle,

she might lay thousands of eggs
but, on average, of course,

only one or two of those
are likely to survive.

[Narrator] And that creates
a bigger problem.

You might think that hatching
on this really dangerous

beach environment
is the biggest peril

that these babies face

but, in fact,
there's another thing.

The temperature of the nest
in which they're laid.

As the climate is
heated by human activity,

the temperatures are increasing,

and we're finding more and more
nests that hatch all female.

[Narrator] Without our help,

it may not be long before
these aquatic wonders

disappear entirely.

But turtles are far from
the only aquatic species

whose sex is flex.

On the other side of the ocean

lies one of the most colorful
places on the planet,

full of wonderfully
queer creatures.

If you're lucky enough
to submerge yourself

in the aquatic wonderland
that is a coral reef.

One of the first
things you notice,

there's just this cacophony
of the noise that's going on.

And what you're listening to,

a lot of different
marine animals,

specifically fish, having sex

and they're quite vocal
about it, which I love.

[Narrator] And not just having
sex but changing sex too.

The majority
of organisms on coral reefs

are actually hermaphrodites.

Whether that means
they change sex

or are multiple sexes
at the same time.

More than 500 species
of fish alone change sex

at least once
in their life times.

[Narrator] And one trans fish is
pretty famous in its own right.

Now I happened to have some
small roles on Finding Nemo.

It's a wonderful,
Academy award-winning film

but there are a couple
of factual errors.

[Narrator] For a start,
clown fish family life

is nowhere near as straight
as most of us think.

So they don't have
what we would describe

as like a traditional
family unit.

They've got one female,
one male,

and then many juvenile males all
taking care of babies together.

[Narrator] No joke.

The male clown fish
do most of the housework,

keeping the eggs
and the anemone clean.

The female does the fighting.

So clown fish
live in an anemone.

The stinging tentacles mean
that other potential predators

are put off attacking
the clown fish,

but it's not just
a one-way interaction.

The clown fish also helps
defend the anemone.

They can attack
surprisingly viciously.

I have a friend who has
a scar from a clown fish.

[Narrator] But stray too far
from safety...

[Jaws-type music]

...and the family can
end up without a matriarch,

which is a problem.

These feisty females
stay in their own anemone

their whole lives so another
won't swim over and replace her.

So, in the movie,
when Nemo's mother, Coral,

unfortunately is killed what
would actually happen was

his father would then
become his new mother.

[Narrator] They physically
change sex, genitals and all.

His father would change gender

and become the dominant
female in the group.

And Nemo would become
a suitor to his new Mum.

It's awkward.

So it's basically,
you know, your traditional

boy meets girl story except for,
you know,

the female dies and then
the male turns into a female.

Then the boy that was hanging
around will then grow up

into a man, and then they'll
have
sex and this will go on forever

with constant changing
in from male to female,

and then getting eaten
and disappearing.

Thanksgiving is a little
bit weird for them,

but that is exactly
how it happens.

[Narrator] Reefs are
a lot queerer than Hollywood

would have you believe.

Even the coral
is in on the action.

You might not think
that the aquatic wonderland

that is coral reef is a haven
for physical sex change

but it absolutely is.

Coral generally looks
a bit like a colorful,

maybe a little bit slimy rock.

But what it actually is,
it's a little bubble

with tentacles
and a mouth/anus in the middle.

For the most part,
corals do just sit there.

They just sit on a reef,
they're glued down,

literally cemented down.

[Narrator] But that all changes
in the dark

when the party gets started.

[party music]

[Goatley] You'll see them with
their tentacles out feeding.

Some of them will
vomit up their guts.

They can fight
with their neighbors.

[Narrator] They also
have sex with them.

And while their bodies
are far from flexible,

sexually they're anything but.

70-80% of corals
are hermaphroditic,

meaning that they
are multiple sexes,

whether at different times in
their life, or at the same time.

[Narrator] Giving the sedentary
filter feeders

a much higher chance of finding
a partner of the right sex.

And on a warm spring night
they all spawn together,

increasing those
odds even further.

You have this great,
vast aquatic ejaculation,

a clouding sea,
and any eggs laid in that time

will be fertilized, but by whom?

We don't know and we
don't care as long as it works.

[Christopher] Everything's
floating up,

it's a pretty
incredible spectacle.

Until you realize
that you're swimming around

in coral sperm and eggs.

[Narrator] In this upside down,
underwater world

it's clear that things
are far more complicated

than once thought.

Turtles aren't born
male or female.

Fish change sex, and coral
like to do it together,

no matter the sex
they currently are.

Everything you were
taught as a kid is wrong.

The facts are this.

The gender-sex spectrum is real

and it's not a straight line
from straight to queer.

It's a halo.
A sphere if you will.

There's so much room, and nature
is constantly changing

and you and I, we all fit
together in there somewhere.

As humans, we've got this innate
need to categorize things,

to put them in boxes.

In reality, we're trying
to put lots of things

that are actually spectra
into categories

where they just don't fit.

The notion that you
would just have

one sexual identity
or preference

is very, very rare

but the point is animals change
their gender and their partners.

It's normal, it's life,
it's how things work.

[Narrator] It's clear
that sex and gender

are incredibly flexible
in the wild,

so it begs the question

how much more fluid can they be?

It's time to find out.

[Narrator] Hiding amongst
the sea grasses

lurks a creature with
a surprising number of genders.

My favorite example

of "queer behavior"
in animals is in cuttlefish.

One of the most remarkable
things about cuttlefish

is their ability
to change color.

They can even change
the texture of their skin.

It's like a high definition
television suit and, you know,

it's used for camouflage

but it's also used
for sexual advertising.

[Narrator] This little male
is currently using both

to approach a female,

but he isn't alone.

Other males are
interested in her too.

And they are much bigger
and showier than he is.

So these adult male cuttlefish
will display different colors

and they'll often be quite
bright reds and whites,

showing that they're
strong and fit.

[Narrator] But little guy can't
compete directly,

and never will be able to.

So he doesn't.

These can become what
we call sneaker-males.

Small sneaker-males could
be considered a third gender.

[Narrator] These
permanently smaller,

third gender cuttlefish
really are masters of disguise.

So these males
pretend to be female

to avoid having
the stuffing beaten out of them

by these big, brawny,
beefy males.

Sneaky males will display
female coloration on one side,

and even pretend
to hold an egg sack

to complete the illusion
of being female,

sneak past the larger
male and then display

typical male colors in order
to woo females and reproduce.

I think that's a brilliant
example of adaptation

in the animal kingdom
in a queer way.

[Narrator] And they are
remarkably successful,

perhaps a little too successful.

[Antonia] The camouflage is so
effective that males will often

mistake other males
for being females and,

rather than just let them pass,
will actually mate with them.

What we find, these small males
are that good at this behavior

that they can't even tell each
other apart and we end up seeing

about 40%
homosexual interactions

between sneaker-male cuttlefish.

[Narrator] Which may come
as a bit of a surprise

for both parties.

And cuttlefish
aren't the only animals

redefining
our narrow notion of gender.

Back on dry land,
and you couldn't get any drier!

In the deserts of Arizona,
an otherwise unremarkable lizard

is playing a remarkable game...
of genders.

[Western music]

I'm always hunting for the small
things that people don't notice,

the small lizard that might
run away as you walk near it,

or the little lizard

hiding underneath
a branch in the shade.

[Narrator] This female
is looking for a mate,

and while you
might find dating hard,

for a side-blotch lizard,
it's uniquely tricky.

It's amazing that these
unremarkable lizards have

one of the most complex mating
strategies on the planet.

They have up
to five genders.

Three different types of males,

and two different
types of females

and they each do things
that impact their ability

to mate with the opposite sex.

So these are not just five
different ways of behaving,

they are physically different.

The males have different
penises, for example,

as well as being
different colors.

[Narrator] The physical
differences including size

are determined by their genes,

and each gender has
different survival advantages

depending on the environment.

They're often called
the Rochambeau

or Rock Paper Scissor lizards

because of the mating game
the different genders play.

The rules of the game
go like this.

Well, you know,
your orange throated male's

you're a machismo.

He's gonna be the male
that's out there to mate

with as many females
as he possibly can.

Your blue throated male's
probably your sensitive

newage guy, but that
really just wants a partner.

Your yellow male
on the other hand,

he's like living
loose and fancy free.

He doesn't really have
any ties whatsoever.

[Tim] Orange beats blue,

blue beats yellow,
but yellow beats orange.

[Narrator] And that doesn't
include the two female genders,

who wear two different colors
and lay different size eggs.

Successfully mating means
finding the right match,

and she's spotted
a blue throated male.

[Dan] The blue males tend to
defend areas that are smaller

and may contain
only a single female.

[Narrator] Unfortunately,
an approaching orange male

has his own ideas.

[Tim] They will aggressively
defend their territories

and woe-betide any other male
that comes into their territory.

[Narrator] But
the game's not done yet.

Here comes yellow.

The yellow throated lizards.

Now these are the sneaky maters.

They'll hang around
the territory of those dominant

orange male lizards
and they'll try to sneak in

and mate
with one of their females.

[Narrator] It's an ever evolving
competition

allowing the local population
to quickly adapt

to different environments.

[Antonia] What happens
in nature is that in these

polymorph populations
these different types fluctuate.

So it's this kind of
circular game of sex,

and it's a game that the lizards
have been playing for millennia.

[Narrator] While nobody likes
games and relationships,

these lizards
challenge our notions

of what gender really means.

But if you think they
have a lot of genders,

then hold onto your genitals

because they've got
nothing on the woodlands.

Where deep in the leaf litter

lives some incredible organisms

with a mind bogging array
of non-binary sexes.

So it's easy to be enamored
with, like, big species,

like lions, tigers,
bears, right,

and fungi maybe don't have
that immediate shock value,

but once you really start
to pay attention to them,

you see all sorts of beautiful,

magical things
that they're doing.

They can be yellow, they can be
white, they can be pink even.

They come in all
sorts of sizes, shapes.

[Narrator] In fact,
these other worldly oddities

are essential to life on Earth.

They are everywhere
you can imagine.

The surface of your hands,
inside your stomach, the ocean,

the tops of trees,
they're everywhere

doing so many critical
functions for our planet

and for our survival.

[Narrator] And to fill
all these roles,

they need to be
super diverse... sexually.

Fungi have, as far as we know,

up to 23,000 sexes
and maybe more.

That's just what we've
discovered so far.

[Narrator] Fungi are neither
plants nor animals,

so don't have sex chromosomes.

Instead, small regions of
their DNA determine their sex,

which creates a ton of physical
variation when they mate.

Allowing them to thrive
almost anywhere on the planet.

Everyone should have a fungus
that they're in love with.

[Narrator] With
so much fluidity,

it's clear that nature
is non-binary

when it comes to sex and gender.

So what is the most common
lifestyle in the wild?

[Narrator] Despite appearances,

this lonely leopard
slug holds a clue

to Mother Nature's preferred
number of genders.

Molluscs are a vastly
underappreciated

group of animals.

All terrestrial snails,
for example,

are hermaphrodites,
and intersex.

In many cases, their actual sex
is determined during love making

as to whether or not (a) one
set of genitals is chewed off

or (b) they are injected
with a chemically coated dart.

You might feel that you have
to give a lot to your partner,

but at least
in the human kingdom

we don't have to detach
our genitals.

[Narrator] All that pales
in comparison

to this slug's love making.

One of the more extraordinary
and slimy sights in nature.

If you thought human sex was
weird, try being a leopard slug.

Leopard slugs mature
at different times of year,

so when they're
old enough to mate,

first of all their male
sexual organs mature.

So they're essentially
male slugs.

But then later in the year,
their female organs mature

and so then they become
essentially male and female

at the same time.

[Narrator] And when that happens
on a warm summer's eve,

they go looking for a mate.

When they find one,
they have to seduce them

by biting their bottom.

It's testing the water,
is this a viable mate?

Is this other slug ready
for action as well?

So if the bum-biting has been
accepted as a form of courtship,

they will allow
that biting to continue

and they will crawl up
to the nearest tree.

[Narrator] And this is where
it gets a bit kinky.

They start to writhe around,
the heads touch each other,

and they twist round in
this kind of serpentine motion

and then, all of a sudden,

the males drop down
on this very,

very strange thread of mucus.

They construct this really
long dangling mucus trapeze.

It's like a high-wire for sex,

and basically the slugs
will then entangle each other

around their bodies.

[Narrator] And then
their penises will...

come out of their heads.

And they're like dick unicorns
basically with their,

with their penis heads.

Let's just remember
how weird this is,

the human equivalent
would be like having

a 15-foot translucent penis
projecting

from the side of your head.

This is really weird stuff,
and then for about 20 minutes

these two penises intertwine
and splay out

into what's been
described as a love orb.

Then they will
inseminate each other

and then one of them will drop
off the slime onto the ground,

the other one
will go down the tree

and they'll go
their separate ways

to have their babies
independently.

[Narrator] Though they can both
get each other pregnant,

they don't have to.

So slugs are a good example
of a group of organisms

that have both sexes
in their bodies.

[Tim] But there's another twist
to the tale because

even if a leopard slug
doesn't manage to find a mate,

and mate in this
really strange way,

well it's both a male
and a female at the same

time and so it can just
reproduce on its own.

[Narrator] Which isn't as
lonely as it sounds.

Not all animals need
to have sex at all.

We see lots of the time
where there's either one gender

or one sex of animals
that can reproduce by itself,

or we get organisms
that just reproduce

by asexual reproduction

which means they
just clone themselves.

It's called parthenogenesis,

and it's not just weird
little creepy-crawlies,

we're talking sharks,
we're talking birds,

we're talking amphibians,
we're talking bees.

All sorts of creatures
can just produce these clones.

[Narrator] In fact,
the number of organisms

that are multiple sexes
simultaneously,

or able to clone themselves,
outnumber

all the rest put together...

And one group of them make up
80% of all life on the planet.

When we talk about
queer behaviors,

we're not just
talking about animals,

we're talking about
all living things period.

Plants. Oh my God,
flowers, trees, shrubbery.

Nothing is as oversexed
as a shrubbery.

It would blow your mind,
and just because they're fixed

in place doesn't mean
that they don't have

incredibly active sex lives.

[Narrator] And while we might
see plants as objects of beauty,

the reality is a little more...
messy.

What we often don't think about
is the fact that flowers are,

first of all,
the sex organs of plants

kind of dangling
on the top of these stems.

Here's a bouquet of vulvas.

Have a dick.
I love you that much.

You can have male structures in
one or both the female and male

are in the same structure, they
can come in any different form.

Plant reproduction is very
exciting and extremely variable,

but they're basically
just having sex all the time.

Especially in spring.

Right with your hay fever,

that's a lot of
plant sex going on.

Your nostrils are
rejecting this extraordinary

blizzard of genetic material.

Eggs and sperm just
racing into your airways,

and your nose
isn't ready for it.

[Narrator] It seems
that in the natural world,

the idea of just
having two fixed sexes

is clearly out of style.

There are queer cuttlefish
with three, lizards with five.

Fungi with thousands,
and billions of plants,

corals and assorted animals

which can be multiple
at the same time.

So much of what we as humans

think is true in nature
turns out to be false.

But we've got to have covered
everything by now, right?

Or have we?

[Narrator] If our journey
has shown us anything,

it's that things are
never quite how they seem.

Even here in the Rockies.

The rugged all-American
heartland where we began.

There are surprises in store.

[crowd cheering]

Welcome, y'all, to the rodeo.

[Narrator] At the 39th annual
Rocky Mountain Gay Rodeo,

some of the best cowboys
in the country

are vying for the prize
of rodeo king...

or queen.

Or even Drag Queen.

And in the nearby foothills
another contest is afoot.

With everything we've learned,

it's time to take another closer
look at these iconic animals.

Big horn sheep are one of
the ultimate masculine symbols.

We're talking 300 be-horned
pounds of don't argue,

throbbing and thrusting their
way through the Rockies.

They're very impressive animals.

[Narrator] Each fall,
for a few days,

while the females are fertile,

the males compete to mate.

They have a double layer
of bone through their skull,

and that means that they
can ram each other literally,

no pun intended,
at 40 miles an hour,

skull to skull and you and I end
up with horrific brain damage,

and they're just fine,
they don't feel a thing.

[Narrator] But despite
how it appears,

and how they are presented
in the media,

these animals are actually
some of the queerest alive.

I think people
might be surprised

if they look a bit closer
at big horn sheep behavior,

because they'd find
that it's more diverse

than they might expect
from that stereotypical image.

[Narrator] For most of the year,

this macho male
never sees a female.

They live completely
separate in bachelor herds,

and during those times,
they can be "very social."

[Antonia] Almost all
male big horn sheep

engage in homosexual courtship

and in homosexual copulation.

Genital nuzzling, licking,

and even surprising behaviors
like kicking each other

in the testicles to get
each other's attention.

[Narrator] Ouch!

After such a loving courtship,
who could refuse?

A 2004 study showed that 8%
or even more of big horn sheep

were only interested
in other males.

70% of male-male interactions
in big horn sheep

involve some sort of courtship.

These activities are not
just physically pleasurable

but also diffuse
potential tension

where these guys would
smash each other to smithereens

on top of these mountains so
it's basically a gay rugby club!

[Narrator] But big horns have
another hidden aspect

to their lives.

So, in big horn sheep
there's three genders.

Females live by themselves.

They only accept mounting
three days of the year,

then there are males which are
the more typically masculine,

they engage in
the same sex activity,

and they engage
in intercourse year round.

Then there are
male-bodied individuals

who live with females,
who aren't as aggressive,

they crouch
and urinate like females,

and also, like the females,
they only accept mounting

for about three days
of the year.

They're,
for all intents and purposes,

female except for their basic
physiology which is 110% male.

So they're a very unique animal

and, as a symbol of masculinity,
astonishingly progressive.

These remarkable queer animals
remind us to constantly question

what we think we know,

and never to judge
a book by its cover.

It's clear that no matter
where you look on our planet,

nature is full
of queer surprises.

Our trip has taken us
from the southern oceans,

to the Great Barrier Reef,
the plains of Africa,

to the salt pans of the Yucatan,

and every habitat in-between.

We've met gay penguins,
bisexual lions,

pansexual primates,

sex-changing clown fish,

and a rainbow's worth
of other queer creatures

big and small that show
the true diversity of our world.

But there's still
one animal left

that we've hardly mentioned...

Us.

Within the human world there's
a massive amount of diversity,

more diversity than we see

in any other species
on Planet Earth.

That's the key ingredient
in our evolution.

Humans have not invented
queerness, evolution has.

Human sexuality is diverse.

It is expansive.

It is a spectrum,
and it is beautiful.

So many different sexualities,

there's so many
different ways of being,

and all of them
are equally human.

[Narrator] But it's not
without controversy.

Queerness in humans
has always existed,

what hasn't always existed
is acceptance and tolerance.

I am a queer woman,

a little bit
of a gender-bender myself.

For so long people have looked
at their fellow human beings,

who are queer, or trans,
or somewhere in that realm,

as being unnatural,
as being against nature.

It's not necessarily safe
to be out in academia.

I still don't feel comfortable
being out about my sexuality.

In a sense I felt lonely.

I didn't see many other faces
like me in academia.

When I came out,
one of the things I heard

was it's not natural, or you
don't see the animals doing this

and that's ridiculous
because you really do.

There was nothing
on the biological side

that's a downside to being gay.

It's only on the cultural side.

And fortunately, that's
something that we can change.

[Narrator] And
the best way to do that

is to show the world
for how it truly is.

So nature is not some
abstract concept, it's you.

You are an extension of nature,
nature is an extension of you.

The more that we can get
that information out there,

the more we're gonna
be able to show people

that queer is natural.

One of the great experiences
of my life has been seeing

the tremendous changes
that have come

with a new queer generation,

so much more true
to what is out there.

If you look at the most
successful ecosystems,

what you see is an abundant
array of cooperative behaviors.

When communities work together,
they thrive

and I can't think
of a more important time

in Earth's history
for us to acknowledge

that it is natural to accept

that everybody
has a part to play

and be grateful
for their contribution

regardless of how they
lived their lives.

And for God's sake,
how they choose to have sex.

[Narrator] In
the known universe,

there is only a single
place where life exists

more diverse and wonderful

than your wildest imagination.

A place we should
all be proud to call home.